Entering to e-Commerce ERA

The “e” stands for electronic and “commerce” stands for good or products. You can see the below different definition which are pointing to the same output.

“Commercial transactions conducted electronically on the Internet”

or

“The buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers through an electronic medium, without using any paper documents”

or

“E-commerce refers to the online/internet shopping, selling of soft goods/merchandise, business-to-business (B2B)  transactions, and online stocks & bond transactions”

In a very simple words E-commerce is market available on the internet as we use to go in physical market (Brick & Mortar) and you can purchase the products online (e-Shop) instead of going to market and also same will be delivered to your home.

E-commerce contains many advantages and drawbacks, so before moving onward I would like to explain you about the duo.

Advantages from the perspective of both Buyers & Sellers

1. Seller can sale the products to the world instead of just limited local area so your only limit is globe and you can reach to new markets easily.
2. Seller can save lots of money by not opening physical store and same can be offered to customers as discount which will boast the sales and same is beneficial for customers too.
3. Seller can keep the shop open all the time 24*7/365.
4. Niche sellers can reach to right customers and vice versa
5. Customer can easily do the product and price comparison.
6. Buyers don’t have to go any market and can order online and product will get delivered at home.
7. Sellers can have better customer engagement and can improve the product and process quality through customer feedback.
8. E-commerce reduces the paper work to a great extent.
9. E-commerce also helps in saving environment and decrease our carbon foot prints as people don’t use vehicles for purchasing the same.

Dis-Advantages of e-Commerce:

1. E-Commerce lacks human touch. As in new markets like India people are used of touch the things in physical market and the purchase especially commodities like Clothes, Food items. So in e-Shopping one cannot get this feel.
2. E-Shops cannot make the delivery as per your requirement, there is a streamed process to deliver through courier partners so can take from one to few days. Like you want to purchase a book for your exam scheduled after 2 days but in this case you cannot rely on e-Shops, so you have to go physical market only.
3. E-commerce doesn’t have an option to test before purchase like we can do in brick & mortar shops. For example while purchasing a deodorant or perfume, you first like to smell the fragrance before placing the order.
4. Security is again biggest issue in E-shopping in 2 different ways. First is fraud companies, as setting up an e-portal is very common and affordable price, so it’s not easy check out the company is genuine or fraud. Second security threat is related to credit/debit card info and releasing personal information to other companies which can to lead bug troubles.

Conclusion

So I would say E-commerce is a Win – Win situation where everyone is getting benefits. Sellers is getting by selling product in wide market and customer is getting in terms of price and comfort factors. Only the factor to take care is security part by both customer and seller. People who do not want to do online payment can go for more options like COD (cash on delivery). Sellers can increase the direct interaction method by introducing live chats or toll free number.