Analysis of Legal and Ethical Issues in E-Commerce Application Launch

This report delves into the critical legal and ethical issues associated with launching an e-commerce application. It begins by emphasizing the importance of understanding these issues to avoid conflicts with authorities and maintain a strong market presence. The report addresses legal concerns such as liability, contractual information, and data protection, highlighting the need for compliance with Australian law, including data privacy regulations and clear product liability definitions. It also explores ethical considerations, such as advertising standards, ensuring accurate product descriptions, and addressing customer complaints promptly. The report underscores the necessity of a customer-centric approach, including strategies for data-driven advertising, and concludes by emphasizing the fundamental role of legal and ethical awareness in the success of any e-commerce venture, particularly during the launch of a new product.

Running head: Legal and Ethical Issues 1
Legal and Ethical Issues
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Introduction
Ideally, for one to be able to understand the business working and platforms in the market
one must understand well on the ethical and legal issues to avoid collisions with the authority
and the market itself. The legal issues are the one that governs the company Information system
with regards to the policies set by the governing body in the state. Some of the issues are such as
tax, income distribution, labor among others (Akter and Wamba, 2016). In the concept of ethical
issues, how will they help in advertising without provoking others, among others?
In developing a shopping E-business it is sure that one will need to cater more on the
revolutionizing of the online shopping whose idea is to make one rich. In this case, the main idea
is launching an application for the first time and one is needed to know the impact of the
applicable legal and ethical issues will have on the company launch as well as the application
management (Mishra, 2013). In addressing the question, the application can have several parts
such as allowing the online shoppers to login to the system where they can set shopping
references and the payment options. Also, the shoppers can be able to search for the products and
be able to find the shops that offer such products depending on the user price. Also, users can be
able to complete the transaction by providing credit card information. Notably, with the above-
mentioned functionalities of the application, there are so many things that arise such as the data
privacy, litigation and liability, communication, advertising policies and dealing with complaints
among others and thus there will be a need to explain more on the issues in relation to the
functionalities of the application.

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Legal Issues
Many companies have grown rapidly and with an idea that they want to be up to date
with the technology in existence. The growth has led to many opting to launch applications
which will help them to advertise and market their products in all aspects. In the E-commerce
industry, as it is in every other niche especially in the technology industry, many of the company,
especially in Australia, have opted to adopt an increasingly legal which are demanding and the
regulatory environment thus leading to lawsuits, recalling products and even closing in other
parts globally.
In this case, since the company is launching an E-shopping business, the legal infractions
will come in many aspects which may present issues to the company. Ideally, after knowing that
there are such challenges there is a need for a company to stay ahead of the game when it comes
to knowing their legal responsibilities. The following issues have been explained in details
showing how such can impact the launching of such a product.
Liability and Contractual Information
A good example is Amazon which has been considered as the most selling business
online which has led to its navigating of the treacherous world for the regulated years. In 2018
they survived a two million dollar lawsuit after they were ruled that their products were not liable
for sale due to injuries caused by a coffeemaker who had bought it on Amazon.com.
In solving the startup of the application, the company should usually explain all the
significance by clearly defining all the product liabilities as well as the associated warranties
(Klassen, Laplante, & Carnaghan, 2014). Secondly, it is good to ensure that terms of use section
are described as well as possible which will make sure that customer can be able to understand,

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the relationship can be strengthened among the vendors on that application especially when the
customers such for another provider using the company application.
Data Protection and Privacy
This Company usually has an application that will allow the customers to register and
login meaning that the company will hold the personal details of the clients. In this case, the
company is entitled to protect the customer’s information’s and thus it is termed as a legal
requirement and thus must be compliance with Australian Law. In ensuring that the E-shop
website of the company is compliant with the data privacy rules, it is good for the company to
start by the creation of a detailed data policies of protection (Camarinha-Matos, Afsarmanesh,
and Rabelo, 2013). Ideally, this will link the two policies to be much clear and visible on the
website and thus giving the visitors information about the person who is responsible for the
storage of the data and how such data is accessed, canceled or even modified.
Ethical Issues
Ethical issues are problems or situations that a company or a person will be required to
select or choose between the alternatives which must be evaluated correctly and considered as
the right which is ethical and if wrong then it is unethical (Prasad, 2013). As a company, the
company usually find itself in a position where they cannot be able to choose the best alternative
when the customers approach different ideas or comments. When advertising, the company will
be considered to be unethical when they give wrong or exaggerated descriptions with regards to
the product. In this case, the company will give a comment in a manner that they are
complaining to the company (Laudon, 2013). In this case, this issue may disrupt the customer-
company relationships and thus in case such complaints are raised especially on the website, it is

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advisable for the company address the issues as early as possible to avoid disruptions in the
future.
Ideally, to set policies, it is good to sit down and rethink again, in this concept, it will be
easy for one to set for one is launching for the first time and thus one can be able to make
choices with regards to the alternatives which will help in addressing the selling of the products.
Notably, to have a customer-advertising strategy, one will need to know the client data and in
this case, this helps in generating data which will be used in customized advertising.
Conclusion
In conclusion for any company to fit well in the E-commerce business, especially a
company that wants to launch a new product, there is a need for one to know the products
advertising methods that will be easily accessible to the customers. Ideally, the ethical and legal
issues are very fundamental for a company to understand as it will help the company to relate
well and thus avoiding lawsuits for offending the customer policies with the products they
distribute. They must address all the customer complaints without assumption, maintain the data
protection and privacy and most of it all be liable for the contractual information.

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References
Akter, S., & Wamba, S. F. (2016). Big data analytics in E-commerce: a systematic review and
agenda for future research. Electronic Markets, 26(2), 173-194.
Camarinha-Matos, L. M., Afsarmanesh, H., & Rabelo, R. J. (Eds.). (2013). E-business and
Virtual Enterprises: managing business-to-business cooperation (Vol. 56). Springer.
Klassen, K. J., Laplante, S. K., & Carnaghan, C. (2014). A model of multinational income
shifting and an application to tax planning with e-commerce. The Journal of the
American Taxation Association, 36(2), 27-53.
Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2013). E-commerce. Pearson.
Mishra, A., & Mishra, D. (2013). Applications of stakeholder theory in information systems and
technology. Engineering Economics, 24(3), 254-266.
Prasad, M. R., Gyani, J., & Murti, P. R. K. (2012). Mobile cloud computing: Implications and
challenges. Journal of Information Engineering and Applications, 2(7), 7-15.