What is the difference between import and export business (international trade) and e-commerce?

International trade, also known as commerce, refers to the cross-border transaction of goods and services, which is generally composed of import trade and export trade, so it can also be called import and export trade. International trade is also called world trade. Import and export trade can adjust the utilization rate of domestic production factors, improve the international supply and demand relationship, adjust the economic structure and increase fiscal revenue.

The major of international trade belongs to the discipline of economics, mainly relying on economic theories, including microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics, econometrics, introduction to world economics, political economics and so on.

Since the major of international economy and trade is economics, it is natural to study mathematics. Calculus, linear algebra, probability theory and mathematical statistics are essential, and learning econometrics, international economics, statistics and other disciplines must have a solid mathematical foundation. In international trade, English should be quite good, not only written English, such as foreign trade English correspondence, but also spoken English is very important.

After learning all the above contents, you should also learn engineering knowledge, that is, industry knowledge, as a supplement to professional knowledge, so as to provide convenience for entering the post in the future. Although all walks of life have their own professional knowledge, it is convenient to learn industry knowledge and engage in full-time work after mastering the theoretical knowledge of international trade.

To sum up, in order to achieve good results and long-term development in the field of international trade, we must learn English and economics well and understand the corresponding laws and regulations at home and abroad.

International trade refers to the exchange of goods and services between countries (or regions) in the world. It is the main form of interconnection between countries (or regions) on the basis of international division of labor, which reflects the economic interdependence of countries (or regions) in the world and consists of the sum of foreign trade of countries.

From a country's perspective, international trade is foreign trade.

Distinguish the definition of the concept of "foreign trade"

One view: Some experts believe that, from a certain point of view, foreign trade or international trade refers to the exchange of goods, services and requirements between countries in the world, and international trade is the performance of division of labor among countries and reflects the mutual economic existence of countries in the world. From a national perspective, it can be called foreign trade; Internationally, it can be called international trade.

Another view: foreign trade refers to the exchange of goods, technologies and services between a country (or region) and other countries (or regions). Therefore, when referring to foreign trade, we should point out specific countries. For example, the foreign trade of China; Some island countries, such as Britain and Japan, also call foreign trade overseas.

International trade classification

According to the direction of commodity movement, international trade can be divided into

1. Import trade: introducing goods or services from other countries into the domestic market for sale.

2. Export trade: exporting domestic goods or services to other countries' markets for sale.

3. entrepot trade: the goods of country A are transported to the market of country B through the territory of country C, which is entrepot trade to country C. Because transit trade hinders international trade, WTO members do not engage in transit trade.

Import trade and export trade are both export trade for both sides of each transaction and import trade for the buyer. In addition, when goods imported into the country are re-exported, they become re-exported; Goods exported abroad are called re-import when they are imported into China.

According to the form of goods, international trade can be divided into

1. Tangible trade: the import and export of goods in kind. Such as machines, equipment, furniture, etc. They are all goods in physical form, and the import and export of these goods is called visible trade.

2. Invisible trade: the import and export of technologies and services without physical form. Transfer of patent use rights, transnational services provided by tourism, financial and insurance enterprises, etc. They are all goods without physical form, and their import and export are called invisible trade.

According to the relationship between producing countries and consuming countries in trade, international trade (whether there is a third country involved) can be divided into

1. Direct trade: refers to the behavior of commodity producing countries and commodity consuming countries buying and selling commodities without going through a third country. The exporting country of trade is called direct export, and the importing country is called direct import.

Indirect trade and entrepot trade: refers to the behavior of commodity producers and consumers buying and selling commodities through a third country. In indirect trade, producers are called indirect exporters, consumers are called indirect importers, and third countries are entrepot countries, and third countries are engaged in entrepot trade.

According to the transaction content, it is divided into:

Service trade, processing trade, commodity trade and general trade.

According to the number of participants in the transaction, it is divided into:

Bilateral trade and multilateral trade

1. Bilateral trade refers to the trade between two countries on the basis of bilateral settlement through agreement. In this kind of trade, both sides pay for the import of the other side with the export of one side, which is mostly implemented in foreign exchange control countries. In addition, bilateral trade also refers to the trade between the two countries.

2. Multilateral trade, also called multi-angle trade, refers to the trade in which three or more countries buy and sell each other on the basis of multilateral settlement through agreement. Obviously, under the trend of economic globalization, multilateral trade is more common.

Geographical direction

The geographical direction of international trade is also called "international trade by region", which is used to indicate the status of continents, countries or regional groups in the world in international trade. Calculating the proportion of countries in international trade can not only calculate the proportion of countries' import and export in the total world import and export, but also calculate the proportion of countries' total import and export in the total international trade (total world import and export).

Because foreign trade is the exchange of goods between one country and another, it is of great significance to analyze and study foreign trade by combining commodity classification with country classification, that is, by combining the study of commodity structure and geographical direction, to find out the whereabouts of different kinds of goods in a country's exports and the sources of different kinds of goods in its imports.

Characteristics of international trade

International trade in goods belongs to the category of commodity exchange, which is not different from domestic trade in nature, but because it is carried out between different countries or regions, it has the following characteristics compared with domestic trade:

1. International trade in goods involves possible differences and conflicts in policies, measures and legal systems of different countries or regions, as well as differences brought about by language, culture and social customs, and the issues involved are far more complicated than domestic trade.

2. International trade in goods is generally large in quantity, large in amount, long in transportation distance and long in performance time, and the risks borne by both parties to the transaction are far greater than those of domestic trade.

3. International trade in goods is easily influenced by the political and economic changes, bilateral relations and changes in the international situation in the countries where both parties to the transaction are located.

In addition to the two sides, international trade in goods also involves the cooperation and cooperation of transportation, insurance, banking, commodity inspection, customs and other departments, and the process is much more complicated than domestic trade.

E-commerce refers to commercial activities centered on commodity exchange with the help of information network technology; It can also be understood as trading activities and related services conducted on the Internet, Intranet and VAN (Value-added Network), which are electronic, networked and informationized in all aspects of traditional business activities.

E-commerce usually refers to a new business operation mode in which buyers and sellers conduct various business activities without meeting each other in a wide range of business and trade activities around the world under the open network environment of the Internet, and realize online shopping for consumers, online trading for merchants and online electronic payment, as well as various business activities, trading activities, financial activities and related comprehensive service activities. Governments, scholars and business people in various countries have given many different definitions according to their respective positions and different angles and degrees of participation in e-commerce. E-commerce is divided into ABC, B2B, B2C, C2C, B2M, M2C, B2A (namely B2G), C2A (namely C2G), O2O, etc.

At the same time, network marketing is also the product of e-commerce, and for network marketing, we should make a good network marketing plan before doing it, so as to facilitate the implementation of the plan.

E-commerce is a business activity using microcomputer technology and network communication technology. Governments, scholars and business people in various countries have given many different definitions according to their respective positions and different angles and degrees of participation in e-commerce. However, electronic commerce is not the same as electronic commerce.

Even though e-commerce has different definitions in different countries or fields, its key is still the business model that relies on electronic equipment and network technology. With the rapid development of e-commerce, it includes not only the main connotation of shopping, but also auxiliary services such as logistics and distribution. E-commerce includes electronic currency exchange, supply chain management, electronic trading market, online marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management and automatic data collection system. In this process, the information technologies used include: Internet, extranet, e-mail, database, electronic directory and mobile phone.

First of all, e-commerce is divided into broad sense and narrow sense. E-commerce in a broad sense is defined as using various electronic tools to engage in business activities; In a narrow sense, e-commerce is defined as mainly using the Internet to engage in business or activities. Regardless of the broad or narrow concept of e-commerce, e-commerce covers two aspects: first, it cannot be called e-commerce without the platform of Internet; Second, what is done through the Internet is a commercial activity.

E-commerce (EC for short) in a narrow sense refers to global business activities carried out by using electronic tools such as the Internet (including telegraph, telephone, radio, television, fax, computer, computer network, mobile communication, etc.). ). It is the sum of all kinds of business activities based on computer network, including the behaviors of suppliers, advertisers, consumers, intermediaries and other interested parties of goods and services. People generally understand that e-commerce refers to e-commerce in a narrow sense.

Broadly speaking, the word e-commerce comes from e-commerce, that is, business activities conducted by electronic means. By using electronic tools such as the Internet, companies, suppliers, customers and partners can enjoy information through e-commerce, realize the electronization of business processes among enterprises, and cooperate with the electronic production management system within enterprises to improve the efficiency of production, inventory, circulation and capital of enterprises.

The United Nations Working Group on Simplifying International Trade Procedures defines e-commerce as: conducting business activities in electronic form, including any electronic tools among suppliers, customers, governments and other participants. Such as EDI, Web technology, e-mail, etc. * * * Enjoy unstructured business information, manage and complete various transactions in business activities, management activities and consumption activities.

E-commerce is the whole business process of realizing electronization, digitalization, networking and commercialization by using computer technology, network technology and remote communication technology.

E-commerce is the transaction process of business activities conducted by electronic means within the scope permitted by law, with business activities as the main body and computer networks as the basis.

E-commerce is a process of constantly optimizing various activities of enterprises by using digital information technology.

The concept of commerce (e-commerce), in 1997, the company put forward the concept of e-commerce (e-commerce). E-commerce focuses on electronic transactions, emphasizing the transactions and cooperation between enterprises and the outside world, and the coverage of e-commerce has expanded a lot. In a broad sense, it refers to the use of various electronic tools to engage in business or activities. In a narrow sense, it refers to the use of the Internet to engage in business activities.

Intrinsic characteristics

Four elements: shopping malls, consumers, products and logistics.

1. Trading: major online platforms provide consumers with high-quality and low-priced goods, attract consumers to buy and promote more businesses to settle in.

4. Cooperation: It is one of the hard conditions for e-commerce operation to establish a cooperative relationship with logistics companies to provide the ultimate guarantee for consumers' purchase behavior.

3. Service: Logistics, one of the three elements of e-commerce, mainly provides consumers with purchasing services, thus realizing another transaction.

Associated object

The formation and transaction of e-commerce cannot be separated from the following four aspects:

I. Trading platform

The third-party e-commerce platform (hereinafter referred to as the third-party trading platform) refers to the sum of information network systems that provide transaction matching and related services for two or more parties in e-commerce activities;

Second, platform operators.

Operators of third-party trading platforms (hereinafter referred to as platform operators) refer to natural persons, legal persons and other organizations that have registered with the administrative department for industry and commerce and obtained business licenses, engaged in the operation of third-party trading platforms and provided services for both parties to the transaction;

Third, station operators.

In-station operators of third-party trading platforms (hereinafter referred to as in-station operators) refer to natural persons, legal persons and other organizations engaged in trading and related service activities on e-commerce trading platforms.

Fourth, the payment system

Payment system is a kind of financial arrangement, sometimes called clearing system, which is composed of intermediaries and professional technical means that provide payment and clearing services, and realizes payment instruction transmission and fund settlement.

E-commerce has a relatively perfect portal with information flow, capital flow and logistics.