For a layman ecommerce is trading through internet. This is what we perceive from the term ecommerce and it is to a great extent correct also. However, technically speaking ecommerce is the short form of Electronics Commerce, which is a methodology used by modern businesses to address the needs of organizations, vendors and customers for reducing the cost and improving the quality of goods & services while increasing the speed of delivery.
It was back in 90’s, some two decades ago, when we first heard about ecommerce in India. And if you remember the name that we mainly knew was Ebay, Yahoo and Dell. Believe t or not back then online shopping was nothing less than technical quality that you possess and seemed as if to buy anything online you first need to get trained in it. I mean it happened with lot of us. We couldn’t even apply the presence of mind it seemed so technical and that we had to consult the one who was already doing it. I mean look back and remember the ‘You’ in 90’s or may be early 2k. Moreover! People buying from Ebay used to count themselves belonging to the high-class society of the country. I mean it! Ask your elders! J
But now! Almost every third person is shopping online and that online shopping is no more requires you to be tech savvy. So what has actually happened? Is ecommerce simplified, has it become a trend or it’s really has some benefits that masses have realized. Let’s look to a few reasons why businesses are getting benefitted from ecommerce and don’t forget business can only get benefitted for a longer period of time if masses do.
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How ecommerce help organizations?
- Locating customers, ultimate suppliers and best business partners across the globe has not remained a big deal with ecommerce. Through E-Commerce, you can easily expand your market nationally & internationally with minimum capital investment.
- The digitization of the information helps you reduce the cost of creating process, distributing, retrieving and managing the paper based information. It reduces paper work to a great extent.
- Today if you don’t exist in the virtual world you don’t exist at all and that e-commerce boosts the brand image of the company.
- Through e-commerce you can provide better customer services.
- As obvious, you can simplify the business processes making them faster & efficient through ecommerce.
- I am not sure if you have heard of the ‘Pull’ type supply management where in the business process starts with a request from the customer and uses just-in-time manufacturing way. This is why ecommerce increases the productivity of the organization as it supports the ‘Pull’ type supply management.
How ecommerce helps customers?
- Hasn’t it happened with you that at an odd time say 9:30 at night you visualize to purchase something and you really want to purchase or enquire about it that time itself. You can’t stop your cravings but had it been some two decades ago you had to. However, today through ecommerce enquiring for a product or purchasing it is possible 24×7 and that too irrespective of your location.
- You have plethora of options with e-Commerce application. They provide with more specific search according to your requirements along with quicker delivery of products. You have more options to compare and select the most reasonable and better product as per your needs.
- If you know it from before then that’s fine otherwise you cannot check reviews in case of physical stores all the time and if you can check then that is also through ecommerce. However, in ecommerce marketing you can check and put reviews for almost all the product that you want to purchase or have purchased. So, judging as to whether the investment would be right or not becomes easier.
- You always have the option of virtual auctions with ecommerce.
- You can fetch any information instantaneously as well as make transactions in very short span of time saving a lot of your time. You don’t have to wait for days or weeks with ecommerce to see the relevant information. Moreover, you get notifications about the information you were looking for.
- E-Commerce has made the competition to go high among the organizations forcing the organizations to provide substantial discounts to customers.
Moreover!
How ecommerce helps the Society?
- You need not travel for shopping with ecommerce and so you unintentionally reduce the traffic on road resulting into low air pollution and so does the ecommerce! J
- The reduction in cost of the product due ecommerce helps even the less affluent people to afford it.
- Due to ecommerce, people even from rural areas have access to services & products that were otherwise not available to them.
- With the help of e-commerce I has become easier for the government to deliver public services such as health care, education, social services in a far more improved way and at reduced cost.
In short: The Business Talk!
- Ecommerce increases ‘customer to cost ratio’ as advertising on internet is quite cost effective than advertising on the conventional mediums such as TV, Radio, Roadside banners & so on.
- Ecommerce decreases the business overheads by eliminating various costs that are involved in the traditional marketing such as cost for office rental, maintenance, staff and of course the communication.
- With no geographical & time constraints ecommerce provides with better connectivity with the consumers benefitting both at the same time.
- The traditional banking might take hours to complete the transactions while with ecommerce very less time is spent during each transaction, making your business to achieve more transactions on the same day.
And! Don’t forget!!
Number of consumers using mobile & web for shopping is increasing overnight! Surviving & staying competitive in the ever changing market won’t be possible without an ecommerce approach.
