E Commerce - Concept And Management

Introduction 

                            The term eCommerce refers to a electronic commerce, means a business model that allows companies and individuals to buy and sell goods and services over the internet. E commerce operates in four major market segments and can be conducted over computers, tablets, smart phones and other smart devices. 

                     eCommerce operates in all four of the following major market segments. These are given below:-

1) Business To Business (B2B)

                        It is the direct sale of goods and services, between business. E.g. transaction between wholesaler to retailer. 

2) Business To Consumer (B2C)

                          In this type of market segment, the transactions involves between businesses and their consumers. Eg. purchase of shirts from a online retailer. 

3) Consumer To Consumer (C2C)

                           Consumer to consumer which allows individuals to sell to one another, usually a 3rd part like, eg. eBay, Stys, Olx. 

4) Consumer To Business (C2B)

                        Which lets individuals sell to business, such as an artist selling or licensing their artwork for use by a corporation. E.g. photographers, consultants, freelance writers.       

The eCommerce companies are Alibaba, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Wayfair, Flipkart, Meshoo, Myntra, Olx, etc.

Examples of E commerce 

                            eCommerce can take on a variety of forms involving different transactional relationships between business and consumers, as well as different objects being exchanged as part of these transactions. 

1) Wholesale

                            The wholesale product is bulk in quantity, often to a retailer that then sells them directly to consumers. 

2) Retail

                       The sale of products or services directly to a consumer without any intermediary or agents. 

3) Drop Shipping

                         The sale of products or services which is manufactured and shipped to the consumer by a third party.

4) Crowd Funding

                          The collection of money from consumers in advance of a product or service being available in order to raise the startup capital necessary to bring it to market. 

5) Subscription

                              The automatic recurring purchase of a product or services on a regular basis until the subscriber chooses to cancel. 

6) Physical Product 

                                  Any tangible goods that requires inventory to be replenished and orders to be physically shipped to customers as sales are made.

7) Digital Products

                                Downloadable digital goods, templets and courses or media that must be purchased for consumption or licensed for use. 

8) Services

                          A skill or set of skills provided in exchange for consumption. The service provider's time can be purchased for a free. 

Advantages Of eCommerce

 

  1) Global Market

                                   A physical store will have limited area to store the products. An online store, or any other type of eCommerce business for that matter, has the whole world as its market. Going from a local customer base to a global market at no additional cost is really one of the greatest advantages of trading online or E commerce business. 

2) Ensuring Continuous Supply

                               Running an online businesses is that the store is always open. For a seller, it's a dramatic increase in sales opportunities for a customer, it's a convenient and immediately available option. Unrestricted by the working hours. 

3) Reduced Costs

                             eCommerce businesses running in lower costs. As there is no need to hire sales staff, maintain a physical stock of goods or products. The major eCommerce costs go to warehousing and product storage. And those running a drop shipping business enjoy even lower upfront investment requirements. A seller are able to save on operational costs, they can offer better deals and discounts to their customers. 

4) Inventory Management

                        As eCommerce business is running on the basis of warehousing stock systems. So we can easily count the inventory stock. eCommerce businesses automate their inventory management by using electronic tools to accelerate ordering, delivery and payment procedures. It's saving businesses billions in operational and inventory costs. 

5) Working From Anywhere

                    As eCommerce business means, doing the businesses on internet electronic basis. There is no need of office, staff, stored materials in small stores and time from 9 to 5. For doing and managing the business we need only a laptop and a good internet connection from anywhere in the world.

6) Faster Buying Process

                     Customer spend less time shopping for what they want. They can easily browse through many times at a time and buy what they like. When online customers can find items that are available in physical stores far away from them or not found in their locality. 

7) Affordable Advertising And Marketing

                                 Seller don't have to spend a lot of money to promote their items. The world of eCommerce has several affordable, quick way to market online. eCommerce market places are visual channels and sellers can really show off their product. E.g. Amazon, sellers can use advertising tools to add videos, info graphics, good quality resolution images. Many eCommerce marketplaces offer customer insight tools, that can be used to analyze customers. Usually this is a page that shows all orders - pending, unshipped, sent, cancelled, returns. 

8) Flexibility Of Customers

                                   An important advantage of eCommerce to business is that sellers can provide flexibility to customers. One highlight is that the product and services are ready 24X7. The result is that seller can offer his items any place, any time. Customers are always present on an eCommerce marketplace - they are likely to return for repeat purchases online because of the conveniences they get. These conveniences include free shipping, express order delivery, deals and discounts, subscription advantages. Customers also share their feedback on the things they buy. 

9) Product And Price Comparison 

                                In eCommerce, seller can compare the products using tools or on their own. This given them a good idea of product alternatives available the standard rates, if a product need is unfulfilled. Comparison is faster online and covers many products. It helps to save time when making this comparison, as all details are available on the shopping site. In a physical store, sellers may not be able to get access to so many details - they only have better knowledge about their own inventory.   

10) Several Payment Mode Facility

                 Buyer's like personalization the same goes for paying for their orders. eCommerce marketplaces permit multiple payment modes that include UPI, Cash On Delivery (COD), Card On Delivery, Net Banking, Emi's on credit or debit card and pay later credit facility. There is a catch - customers can only use one type of payment mode per order. This choice is affected by the order value, ease of payment or availability of cash or card. In some cases, payment modes can be merged with a dedicated wallet amount. 

Conclusion

                        eCommerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. It is conducted over computers, tablets, smartphones, laptops and other smart devices. Almost we can be purchased and sale through E commerce. E commerce operates in four market segments, including: Business To Business (B2B), Business To Consumer (B2C), Consumer To Consumer (C2C), Consumer To Business (C2B). 

                        As noted above, eCommerce is the process of buying and selling tangible products and services online. It involves more than one party along with the exchange of data or currency to process a transaction. It is part of the greater industry that is known as electronic business which involves all of the process required to run a company online. 

                      eCommerce has helped business gain access to and establish a wider market presence by providing cheaper and more efficient distribution channels for their products and services.