E-commerce refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems through Internet and other computer networks. The most popular medium in which E-commerce is conducted is the internet. E-commerce has become a buzzword of modern trading and information technology. It is a modern business methodology that addresses the needs of organizations, merchants, and consumers to cut costs while improving the quality of products and services and increasing the speed of service delivery. In general, it is the process of conducting all forms of business using computer hardware, software, processing data, communication and computer network. E-commerce allows consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with no barriers of time or distance. Electronic commerce has expanded rapidly over the past ten years and is predicted to continue at this rate, or even accelerate.
ADVANTAGES OF
ECOMMERCE:
1. Overcome
Geographical Limitations
2. Gain New Customers
with Search Engine Visibility
3. Lower Costs
4. Locate the Product
Quicker
5. Eliminate Travel
Time and Cost
6. Provide Comparison
Shopping
7. Enable Deals,
Bargains, Coupons, and Group Buying
8. Provide Abundant
Information
9. Create Targeted
Communication
10. Remain Open All the
Time
11. Create Markets for
Niche Products
1) Overcome Geographical Limitations: If you
have a physical store, you are limited by the geographical area that you can
service. With an ecommerce website, the whole world is your playground.
Additionally, the advent of mcommerce, i.e., ecommerce on mobile devices, has
dissolved every remaining limitation of geography.
2) Gain New Customers with Search Engine
Visibility: Physical retail is driven by branding and relationships. In
addition to these two drivers, online retail is also driven by traffic from
search engines. It is not unusual for
customers to follow a
link in search engine results, and land up on an ecommerce website that they
have never heard of. This additional source of traffic can be the tipping point
for some ecommerce businesses.
3) Lower Costs: One of the most tangible
positives of ecommerce is the lowered cost. A part of these lowered costs could
be passed on to customers in the form of discounted prices. Here are some of
the ways that costs can be reduced with ecommerce:
o Advertising and Marketing: Organic
search engine traffic, pay-per-click, and social media traffic are some of the
advertising channels that can be cost-effective.
o Personnel: The
automation of checkout,
billing, payments, inventory
management, and other operational processes, lowers the
number of employees required to run an ecommerce setup.
o Real Estate: This one is a no-brainer.
An ecommerce merchant does not need a prominent physical location.
4) Locate the Product Quicker: It is no longer
about pushing a shopping cart to the correct aisle, or scouting for the desired
product. On an ecommerce website, customers can click through intuitive
navigation or use a search box to
immediately narrow down
their product search.
Some websites remember
customer preferences and shopping lists to facilitate repeat
purchase.
5) Eliminate Travel Time and Cost: It is not
unusual for customers to travel long distances to reach their preferred
physical store.
Ecommerce allows them to visit the same store virtually, with a few mouse
clicks.
6) Provide Comparison Shopping: Ecommerce
facilitates comparison shopping. There are several online services that allow
customers to browse multiple ecommerce merchants and find the best prices.
7) Enable Deals, Bargains, Coupons, and Group
Buying: Though there are physical equivalents to deals, bargains, coupons, and
group buying, online shopping makes it much more convenient. For instance if a
customer has a deep discount coupon for turkey at one physical store and toilet
paper at another, she may find it infeasible to avail of both discounts. But
the customer could do that online with a few mouse-clicks.
8) Provide Abundant Information: There are
limitations to the amount of information that can be displayed in a physical
store. It is difficult to equip employees to respond to customers who require
information across product lines. Ecommerce websites can make additional
information easily available to customers. Most of this information is provided
by vendors, and does not cost anything to create or maintain.
9) Create Targeted Communication: Using the
information that a customer provides in the registration form, and by placing
cookies on the customer's computer, an ecommerce merchant can access a lot of
information about its customers. This, in turn, can be used to communicate
relevant messages. An example: If you are searching for a certain product on
Amazon.com, you will automatically be shown listings of other similar products.
In addition, Amazon.com may also email you about related products.
10) Remain Open All the
Time: Store timings are now 24/7/365. Ecommerce websites can run all the time.
From the merchant's point of view, this increases the number of orders they
receive. From the customer's point of view, an "always open" store is
more convenient.
11) Create Markets for
Niche Products: Buyers and sellers of niche products can find it difficult to
locate each other
in the physical world.
Online, it is only a matter of the customer searching for the product in a
search engine. One example could be purchase of obsolete parts. Instead of
trashing older equipment for lack of spares, today we can locate parts online
with great ease.