What is E-commerce?
Have you ever purchased something online? This is what E-commerce is. E-Commerce refers to buying and selling goods online. Nowadays almost every big brand has its online store to sell its products. There are many different apps from where we can buy anything and everything online. Covid-19 has increased the use of E-commerce as we now only have these platforms to shop when malls and markets were closed. Not only clothes, electronics, and groceries are available online but also plane tickets, train tickets, and movie tickets, and even financial services like Stocks, Banking, etc are available online.
Platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Big Bazar, eBay, etc are the most popular online shopping platforms. If you compare physical shopping and E-Commerce you will realize that you get more discounts online than in physical markets. To widen their business reach every business small to big is now taking their business to online platforms through social media accounts.
Types Of E-Commerce
B2B-
Business to Business is the practice of selling online from one business to another. In this, a wholesale business owner will sell its products or services to a retail business owner.
B2C-
Business to Consumer is the practice of selling products or services from business to consumer. This is the most common E-Commerce practice as it’s easy for businesses to target consumers online. Businesses put their products online, allowing the consumer to purchase the products from the comfort of their homes thus, saving their time.
C2B-
Consumer to Business is the practice of selling products or services from consumer to business. For example, an influencer posting their videos on an online social media platform in exchange for a fee is C2B E-Commerce.
C2C-
Consumer to Consumer is a practice in which one consumer sells its product or service to another consumer. This happens when you have something which you don’t want now but is in good condition and you can sell it on platforms like eBay where another consumer can buy your products without involving business in this.
Benefits of E-Commerce
No, reach limitations-
You can buy things from another country by just sitting at your home and pressing buttons and also a businessman can sell their products worldwide without any limitation on the reach through E-Commerce which is not possible in a physical market.
"There's Always A Scope Of Improvement"
Lower Prices-
Whenever we buy something we always want things at their best price. E-commerce does help us to get that satisfaction as there are offers discounts are available on E-Commerce platforms. Same when it comes to businesses, E-Commerce lowers the cost of running the businesses as it does not require a physical store to sell their products or services.
More Informed Decision Making-
When we do online shopping we can get to know about the product through customer reviews, videos, product guides, social validation, etc. It makes us compare easily by checking on other sites and can compare the price and discount so more information is available about the product online.
Flexibility-
The major advantage of E-Commerce is it is available 24×7. The sellers can provide flexibility to the consumers as they can buy products or services at any time on any day and at any place.
Limitations of E-Commerce
Technical Issue-
No one can buy your products or services if the site crashes. If you are paying the minimum hosting fee and get a surge in traffic from a high-converting ad or a television advertisement like Shark Tank, your site is likely to crash. That is why it is important to ensure your website is hosted on the right platform.
Customers can be Impatient-
If a customer has a question while buying online, they can get impatient while waiting for the answer as in physical shop the salesman is ready to answer the question but in online shopping, the customer has to wait for your reply and if you don’t give the reply within a particular time period the customer can angry and can switch to your competitors to buy the product or service.
Shipping Time can be lengthy-
When a customer buys physically they can take the product to their home at the same time. But in online shopping, the customer has to wait for days to get their product. So when in an emergency a physical shop instead of online shopping is a better option.
