Ecommerce and cross-border ecommerce: starting from a shopping experience
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First visit
Reading language
You can read the course in one language and ask for explanations in another. We never guess your language from your name, religion, nationality or location.
Includes internal management and electronic documents.
Concept 2 · The cross-border test
O24 min
Three conditions - all three, or it is not CBEC
1Different customs territories
2Online transaction and settlement
3Cross-border delivery of goods
Concept 2 · Edge cases
O25 min
Two out of three is not enough
Not CBEC
Domestic sale by international courier
Same customs territory; the route crosses a border, the parties do not.
Not CBEC
A gift sent abroad
Cross-border delivery, but no commercial transaction.
CBEC
Own website selling to another country
No platform needed; all three conditions hold.
Concept 3 · Ecosystem
O35 min
One order sits inside a network
One cross-border order
Supplier / brandMakes or owns the goods.
SellerSets price, answers for delivery.
PlatformMarket space, rules, payment tools.
ConsumerOrders, pays, reviews, returns.
PaymentAuthorises and settles funds.
LogisticsMoves goods across and within borders.
CustomsDeclares, inspects, assesses duty.
MarketingCreates demand and traffic.
Concept 3 · Roles
O34 min
The platform is not the seller
Platform
Provides market space and rules
Often processes payment and disputes
Does not own the goods
Seller
Owns or sources the goods
Sets the price
Answers for delivery and after-sales
Concept 3 · Order chain
O35 min
Six steps, six sets of records
1Order and payment
2Seller packing
3Export clearance
4International transport
5Import clearance
6Local delivery
Analytical habit
O33 min
Replace a vague complaint with a locatable problem
"Cross-border shopping is unreliable" tells us nothing we can fix.
Which step failed?
Who controls that step?
What record proves it?
What would prevent it next time?
Case · Teaching case
O45 min
The phone case: follow the chain
Case: one phone case, one chain (teaching case)
US$12.9 listing; buyer pays card; parcel arrives in 21 days.
Final price is higher because freight, insurance and duty are added.
The delay comes from consolidation, air transport and clearance - not one failure.
Task: decide which party answers each question.
Materials on this slideCase: one phone case, one chain
Case analysis
O44 min
Who controls what?
Seller
Goods, packaging, handover
Can fix quality and packing; cannot control airline schedules.
Platform
Listing, payment, dispute rules
Can speed refunds; does not move parcels.
Services
Transport, clearance, delivery
Control transit; respond to documents, not to the buyer.
Common misconceptions
O2–O33 min
Four claims to retire
Long-distance delivery means cross-border.
Buying on a phone means mobile and therefore cross-border.
The platform is the seller.
If a firm calls itself global, its orders are cross-border.
Classroom activity
O412 min
Map one order in 12 minutes
2 minPairs choose one cross-border purchase, or use the phone case.
5 minDraw the chain; place actors and services; draw goods, money and information flows.
3 minMark who controls each box: seller, platform, or neither.
2 minChoose the likeliest failure and write what the buyer experiences.
Self-check
O1–O42 min
Five questions, applied not recited
Q1 definition · Q2 edge case · Q3 supporting service
Q4 narrow scope · Q5 own-website export
Answer in the handout; explanations appear after submission.
Summary
All2 min
What you can now do
Define ecommerce by the electronic completion, not the object.
State the scope before comparing any ecommerce figure.
Apply all three CBEC conditions to a new case.
Separate platform, seller and supporting services in one order.
Sources & next
1 min
Sources and preparation
Textbook §1.1–1.2 and Figure 1-3 (SRC-001).
Laudon & Traver (2022) for the general definition (SRC-005).
Next: Lesson 2 - measure a market with size and penetration.
Slide 1 of 18
Lesson 01 · 50 min · 1 / 18
Ecommerce and cross-border ecommerce
One phone case, three names, one chain of actors
Open with the Nairobi/Shenzhen purchase. Do not define anything yet; ask students which of the three words - shopping, importing, cross-border ecommerce - is doing the real work. Purpose: establish that definitions are tools, not labels.
Opening question · 2 / 18
Same purchase, three names
A student in Nairobi pays US$12.9 for a phone case from Shenzhen.
Her cousin calls it importing. Her teacher calls it cross-border ecommerce.
The parcel takes 21 days and tax is paid on delivery.
Which word is doing the real work?
Take three quick answers, then write them on the board. Keep them for the end: return to the same three words after the definitions.
Learning objectives · 3 / 18
By the end, you can...
Explain the difference between ecommerce and cross-border ecommerce with one purchase.
Distinguish narrow, broad and pan-ecommerce, and say what each is for.
Test a case against the three CBEC elements.
Map the actors and services in one order and locate a failure.
Read the objectives as actions, not topics. Tell students the quiz will ask them to apply, not recite.
Concept 1 · What is ecommerce · 4 / 18
The object can change; the electronic completion does not
Ask for one example of each from students' own experience. Emphasise that the definition is about how the transaction completes, not about whether a parcel exists.
Concept 1 · Three scopes · 5 / 18
Narrow, broad, pan: three boundaries, not three stages
The common exam error is to treat these as stages of history. Ask: can one order fall inside all three? Yes. Then ask which scope a government figure usually uses.
Concept 2 · The cross-border test · 6 / 18
Three conditions - all three, or it is not CBEC
Say each condition with the cost it brings: customs and duty, payment and fraud risk, freight and returns. This connects the definition to later lessons on cost.
Concept 2 · Edge cases · 7 / 18
Two out of three is not enough
This is the slide to slow down. Ask students to say which condition is missing in each rejected case. Expect them to think a platform is required; correct that immediately.
Concept 3 · Ecosystem · 8 / 18
One order sits inside a network
Do not read all eight. Reveal the four core actors first, then the four services. Ask which ones the buyer can name and which ones are invisible.
Concept 3 · Roles · 9 / 18
The platform is not the seller
Platform
Provides market space and rules
Often processes payment and disputes
Does not own the goods
Seller
Owns or sources the goods
Sets the price
Answers for delivery and after-sales
Use one concrete question: if the parcel arrives damaged, who refunds first? The answer depends on platform policy, but the responsible party is the seller. This distinction returns in Lessons 6 and 8.
Concept 3 · Order chain · 10 / 18
Six steps, six sets of records
Point out that each step leaves a record: order number, handover scan, declaration number, clearance notice, delivery receipt. Records are what make a failure locatable.
Analytical habit · 11 / 18
Replace a vague complaint with a locatable problem
Which step failed?
Who controls that step?
What record proves it?
What would prevent it next time?
Ask students to rewrite a complaint they have heard using the four questions. This is the analytical move the whole course will reuse.
Case · Teaching case · 12 / 18
The phone case: follow the chain
US$12.9 listing; buyer pays card; parcel arrives in 21 days.
Final price is higher because freight, insurance and duty are added.
The delay comes from consolidation, air transport and clearance - not one failure.
Task: decide which party answers each question.
This case is fictional and is labelled as such in the handout. Do not let students treat it as a real transaction. Focus on the sequence, not on the numbers.
Case analysis · 13 / 18
Who controls what?
Ask: if the buyer writes a one-star review, who loses? The seller, even when the delay was in clearance. This asymmetry explains why sellers often over-communicate.
Common misconceptions · 14 / 18
Four claims to retire
Long-distance delivery means cross-border.
Buying on a phone means mobile and therefore cross-border.
The platform is the seller.
If a firm calls itself global, its orders are cross-border.
Take each claim and ask for a counter-example. Do not supply the counter-example yourself; let the class produce it.
Classroom activity · 15 / 18
Map one order in 12 minutes
Circulate and look for the platform placed in the seller's box. Close by asking two pairs to compare failure points; do not collect every diagram.
Self-check · 16 / 18
Five questions, applied not recited
Q1 definition · Q2 edge case · Q3 supporting service
Q4 narrow scope · Q5 own-website export
Answer in the handout; explanations appear after submission.
Do not reveal answers verbally. Ask students to note which question they were unsure about; that is their review target.
Summary · 17 / 18
What you can now do
Define ecommerce by the electronic completion, not the object.
State the scope before comparing any ecommerce figure.
Apply all three CBEC conditions to a new case.
Separate platform, seller and supporting services in one order.
Return to the three words from the opening. Ask which word now seems most precise, and why the other two are still useful in everyday speech.
Sources & next · 18 / 18
Sources and preparation
Textbook §1.1–1.2 and Figure 1-3 (SRC-001).
Laudon & Traver (2022) for the general definition (SRC-005).
Next: Lesson 2 - measure a market with size and penetration.
Remind students that the case is a teaching case, not a real transaction, and that the sources are listed in the handout.