E-commerce: From Local To Global

E-commerce is a term used as an abbreviation for electronic commerce

. E-commerce is also referred to as electronic marketing. It deals with buying and selling of services and products via electronic system, such as, the Internet.

Benefits of ecommerce:

E-commerce can provide immense benefits to, not only, the business entities, but also, the consumers.

* Benefit to retailers:

1. Provides more exposure: E-commerce allows the retailers to access global market. Billions of people across the world access Internet on a daily basis. Thus, it makes it possible for the retailers to tap the world market. Even the small local businesses can market and sell their products and services internationally using ecommerce.

2. Allows them to conduct their business activities 24 x 7: Unlike traditional retail stores that function mostly during the daytime, e-commerce enables the retailers to conduct their businesses at any time of the day. This is because generally Internet users across different parts of the world tend to use the Internet at different times.

3. Cost-effective: E-commerce also helps the businesses to lower the costs associated with marketing, inventory management, and customer care and processing.

* Benefit to Shoppers:

1. Offers more choices: It allows the shoppers to choose from numerous options of varied prices. Thus, shoppers can now easily choose the product of their choice by comparing the prices of different products. Shoppers can now visit the web sites of multiple vendors at any time of the day. Besides, shoppers can instantly buy and obtain products or services such as computer software, a music file or an e-book by downloading it from the Internet.

2. Offers more convenience: Earlier, a person living in South Africa couldn't have imagined wearing designer clothes made in India. However, e-commerce has made this very possible. Gone are the days when one would need to go far-off places to buy a certain special product of that particular place. With e-commerce, shoppers can buy the product of their choice without even moving out of their homes.

Drawbacks of ecommerce:

There are certain products that the shoppers are hesitant about buying over the Internet, and this is where some businesses may suffer. For instance, online furniture businesses have less chances of profiting from e-commerce, as their customers may wish to experience the comfort of a costly furniture item, such as, a sofa.

In comparison to the advantages, the limitations of e-commerce are negligible.

by: Melissa Smich

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