what is E-Commerce
In order to understand e-commerce, understanding of commerce is necessary. Commerce is the activity of buying and selling of goods or services on a regular basis between two or more persons, businesses and entities. The only advancement in e-commerce is that it’s done digitally, it needs an electronic network to perform on, such as internet.
There arises a lot of confusion between e-commerce and e-business, although there’s a minor difference between them. Talking about e-business, it’s almost similar to e-commerce but here the suppliers as well as employees are connected with the network, unlike e-commerce where they are not connected.
E-commerce is a very broad concept, it has mainly six types. They are :
B2B (Business to Business)
It refers to the transaction between two business entities where one business entity orders something from another business entity in exchange of cash. Very common example of this model is wholesaler and retailer. It is the most influential type of e-commerce, around 80% transactions are of this type.
B2C (Business to Consumer)
It shows the transaction between a business and a consumer where a consumer orders a product or service by going to the website of the company in exchange of money and the product is supplied. It is the most popular use of e-commerce.
B2A (Business to Administration)
It relates to the transaction between a company and administration. In this case companies provides services to the government and in return government also at times provides auctions and tenders to the company, mostly these are monetary transactions. It is a modern use of e-commerce.
C2C (Consumer to Consumer)
It depicts the kind of transaction which takes place between one customer to another customer, there’s no company directly involved in this transaction. One customer purchases from another customer through any website such as OLX, Quikr, etc. Companies are generally involved as third parties in the form of a website providing a platform for such transactions.
C2B (Consumer to Business)
It talks about the concept in which consumers provide goods and services to the business in return of cash such as referring a particular brand to your natives. The most trending example of this type is freelancing.
C2A (Consumer to Administration)
It gives the idea of consumers or the citizens providing goods and services to the government/administration. The most common example is tax paying and in return government provides services and resources.
All the above transactions occur through a network such as internet, without any physical interaction.
But along with the advantages there are always some disadvantages which follows. E-commerce also has some disadvantages other than its precious advantages.
Advantages of e-commerce :
Easier to purchase items, shops are open 24 hours.
Variety of goods and services just at your fingertips.
Product rates can be compared at different online stores.
Products available at cheaper costs.
Easier to find different products or services for buying.
Can sell commodities with less effort.
Not just goods, services can also be demanded.
One on one interaction with the customers.
Complete privacy and full security.
Doesn’t need to reach out for things, easily accessible.
No need to visit the shops for buying.
Window shopping is easier to do with this.
Better way of buying and selling for the ones physically challenged.
Disadvantages of e-commerce :
At times there are issues of sites crashing or server down which stops the transaction.
Unlike physical shopping, products are delivered in two to three days or even more, i.e. late delivery.
There also occurs some tax issue.
Chances of online fraud is there such as money laundering.
One cannot test the product physically.
Usually consumers have concerns about privacy.
There is fear amongst the public in buying products, as they are used to the traditional way of buying and selling.
Lack of knowledge, some people don’t know how to shop online.
There are trust issues.
Not everyone has a smartphone or a network.
Some products are offered from international markets which faces shipping problems.
One cannot get his/her product before delivery date, regardless of the urgency.
Evolution of e-commerce
E-commerce has also evolved a lot in last few years, a complete different industry it has become from its establishment.
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