What is E-Commerce?

E-Commerce or Electronics Commerce is a methodology of modern business, which addresses

the requirements of business organizations. It can be broadly defined as the process of buying
or selling of goods or services using an electronic medium such as the Internet.

E-Commerce or Electronics Commerce is a methodology of modern business, which

addresses the need of business organizations, vendors and customers to reduce cost
and improve the quality of goods and services while increasing the speed of delivery.
Ecommerce refers to the paperless exchange of business information using the following
ways −

 Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

 Electronic Mail (e-mail)
 Electronic Bulletin Boards
 Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)
 Other Network-based technologies
Features
E-Commerce provides the following features −
 Non-Cash Payment − E-Commerce enables the use of credit cards, debit cards,
smart cards, electronic fund transfer via bank's website, and other modes of
electronics payment.
 24x7 Service availability − E-commerce automates the business of enterprises
and the way they provide services to their customers. It is available anytime,
anywhere.
 Advertising / Marketing − E-commerce increases the reach of advertising of
products and services of businesses. It helps in better marketing management of
products/services.
 Improved Sales − Using e-commerce, orders for the products can be generated
anytime, anywhere without any human intervention. It gives a big boost to existing
sales volumes.
 Support − E-commerce provides various ways to provide pre-sales and post-sales
assistance to provide better services to customers.
 Inventory Management − E-commerce automates inventory management.
Reports get generated instantly when required. Product inventory management
becomes very efficient and easy to maintain.
 Communication improvement − E-commerce provides ways for faster, efficient,
reliable communication with customers and partners.

Traditional Commerce v/s E-Commerce

Sr. Traditional Commerce E-Commerce
No.

1 Heavy dependency on Information sharing is made easy via electronic

information exchange from communication channels making little
person to person. dependency on person to person information
exchange.

2 Manual intervention is required Electronics system automatically handles when

for each communication or to pass communication to required person or do
transaction. the transactions.
 3 It is difficult to establish and A uniform strategy can be easily established
maintain standard practices in and maintain in e-commerce.
traditional commerce.

4 Communications of business In e-Commerce or Electronic Market, there is

depends upon individual skills. no human intervention.

5 Unavailability of a uniform E-Commerce website provides user a platform

platform as traditional commerce where all information is available at one place.
depends heavily on personal
communication.

6 No uniform platform for E-Commerce provides a universal platform to

information sharing as it support commercial / business activities across
depends heavily on personal the globe.
communication.

E-Commerce advantages can be broadly classified in three major categories −

 Advantages to Organizations
 Advantages to Consumers
 Advantages to Society

Advantages to Organizations
 Using e-commerce, organizations can expand their market to national and
international markets with minimum capital investment. An organization can easily
locate more customers, best suppliers, and suitable business partners across the
globe.
 E-commerce helps organizations to reduce the cost to create process, distribute,
retrieve and manage the paper based information by digitizing the information.
 E-commerce improves the brand image of the company.
 E-commerce helps organization to provide better customer services.
 E-commerce helps to simplify the business processes and makes them faster and
efficient.
 E-commerce reduces the paper work.
 E-commerce increases the productivity of organizations. It supports "pull" type
supply management. In "pull" type supply management, a business process starts
when a request comes from a customer and it uses just-in-time manufacturing way.
Advantages to Customers
 It provides 24x7 support. Customers can enquire about a product or service and
place orders anytime, anywhere from any location.
 E-commerce application provides users with more options and quicker delivery of
products.
 E-commerce application provides users with more options to compare and select
the cheaper and better options.
 A customer can put review comments about a product and can see what others
are buying, or see the review comments of other customers before making a final
purchase.
 E-commerce provides options of virtual auctions.
 It provides readily available information. A customer can see the relevant detailed
information within seconds, rather than waiting for days or weeks.
 E-Commerce increases the competition among organizations and as a result,
organizations provides substantial discounts to customers.

Advantages to Society
 Customers need not travel to shop a product, thus less traffic on road and low air
pollution.
 E-commerce helps in reducing the cost of products, so less affluent people can
also afford the products.
 E-commerce has enabled rural areas to access services and products, which are
otherwise not available to them.
 E-commerce helps the government to deliver public services such as healthcare,
education, social services at a reduced cost and in an improved manner.
The disadvantages of e-commerce can be broadly classified into two major categories −

 Technical disadvantages
 Non-Technical disadvantages

Technical Disadvantages
 There can be lack of system security, reliability or standards owing to poor
implementation of e-commerce.
 The software development industry is still evolving and keeps changing rapidly.
 In many countries, network bandwidth might cause an issue.
 Special types of web servers or other software might be required by the vendor,
setting the e-commerce environment apart from network servers.
 Sometimes, it becomes difficult to integrate an e-commerce software or website
with existing applications or databases.
 There could be software/hardware compatibility issues, as some e-commerce
software may be incompatible with some operating system or any other
component.
Non-Technical Disadvantages
 Initial cost − The cost of creating/building an e-commerce application in-house
may be very high. There could be delays in launching an e-Commerce application
due to mistakes, and lack of experience.
 User resistance − Users may not trust the site being an unknown faceless seller.
Such mistrust makes it difficult to convince traditional users to switch from physical
stores to online/virtual stores.
 Security/ Privacy − It is difficult to ensure the security or privacy on online
transactions.
 Lack of touch or feel of products during online shopping is a drawback.
 E-commerce applications are still evolving and changing rapidly.
 Internet access is still not cheaper and is inconvenient to use for many potential
customers, for example, those living in remote villages.

What is E-Marketing?
E-Marketing (Electronic Marketing), also known as Internet Marketing, Web Marketing,
Digital Marketing, or Online Marketing, is marketing done through the internet on online
channels. E-marketing is the process of marketing a product or service offering using the
Internet to reach the target audience on smartphones, devices, social media etc.. E-
marketing not only includes ma rketing on the Internet, but also includes marketing done
via e-mail and wireless media. It uses a range of technologies to help connect businesses
to their customers.
Like many other media channels, e-marketing is also a part of integrated marketing
communications (IMC), which helps a brand grow across different channels.
Importance of E-marketing
In modern times where most of the work and transactions are happening through online
channels, it becomes every important for marketers to reach out to customers through
right channels. Smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, laptops are being used globally to run
businesses and buy and sell goods. E-marketing helps in reaching out to your audience
on these channels along with traditional offline channels as well. Sometimes for some
offerings, e-marketing is the only viable option.
E-marketing is very transparent in terms of its effectiveness as compared to offline
marketing. One thing which makes e-marketing standout is the ability to measure the
impact in real time. Marketers can see the performance and tweak the messaging
accordingly which can be very effective when compared to offline marketing.
in the times of pandemic, online marketing becomes even more prominent when the
offline or traditional marketing channels cannot deliver the optimum return on value.
Advantages of E-marketing
Certain advantages of e-marketing are discussed as below:
1. Much better return on investment from than that of traditional marketing as it helps
increasing sales revenue.
2. E-marketing means reduced marketing campaign cost as the marketing is done
through the internet
3. Fast result of the campaign as it helps to target the right customers.
4. Easy monitoring through the web tracking capabilities help make e-marketing highly
efficient
5. Using e-marketing, viral content can be made, which helps in viral marketing.
Types of e-marketing
There are several ways in which companies can use internet for marketing. Some ways
of e-marketing are:
1. Article marketing
2. Affiliate marketing
3. Video marketing
4. Email marketing/Newsletters
5. Blogging
6. Content marketing
7. Webinars
All these and other methods help a company or brand in e-marketing and reaching
customer through the internet.
E-Marketing Examples
A good example would be a 360 degree campaign run by companies which include direct
and indirect marketing channels for putting across the message. e-Marketing is used in
form of newsletters, videos, podcasts and webinars which are directly positioned to the
potential customers. Along with that customers also get to know about the company and
products through social media connects, content marketing, thought leadership which are
indirect marketing channels. All these channels are completely online.
These campaigns might also have offline counterparts which also deliver the same
message or may be the entire campaign can be driven by e-marketing. Many companies
are now using online channels extensively for marketing their products.
Apple, Samsung and other major phone manufacturers stream their new product
launches across the globe showing the new features and pricing of the upcoming phones
and other devices. Even gaming industry have many online events where upcoming
games are presented to the audience.
Advantages
•The cost of the customers is reduced significantly as they can access the information
about various alternatives and choose the best that suits their needs.
•It can impose higher switching cost on the buyers and sellers.
•It provides economies of scale and scope.
•Different buyers and suppliers can work in collaboration to reap larger benefits from
each other.
Hence, this concludes the definition of E- Marketplace along with its overview.

E-COMMERCE
E-commerce is the buying and selling of good or services via the internet, and the transfer of money
and data to complete the sales. It’s also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce.

TYPES OF E-COMMERCE
As commerce continues to evolve, so do the ways that it’s conducted. Following are the most
traditional types of e-commerce models:

1. Business to Consumer (B2C): B2C e-commerce is the most popular e-commerce model.
Business to consumer means that the sale is taking place between a business and a
consumer, like when you buy a rug from an online retailer.
2. Business to Business (B2B): B2B e-commerce refers to a business selling a good or service
to another business, like a manufacturer and wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer.
Business to business e-commerce isn’t consumer-facing, and usually involves products like
raw materials, software, or products that are combined. Manufacturers also sell directly to
retailers via B2B ecommerce.
3. Direct to Consumer (D2C): Direct to consumer e-commerce is the newest model of
ecommerce. D2C means that a brand is selling directly to their end customer without going
 through a retailer, distributor, or wholesaler. Subscriptions are a popular D2C item, and
social selling via platforms like InstaGram, Pinterest, Facebook, SnapChat, etc. are popular
platforms for direct to consumer sales.
4. Consumer to Consumer (C2C): C2C e-commerce refers to the sale of a good or service to
another consumer. Consumer to consumer sales take place on platforms like eBay, Etsy,
Fivver, etc.
5. Consumer to Business (C2B): Consumer to business is when an individual sells their
services or products to a business organization. C2B encompasses influencers offering
exposure, photographers, consultants, freelance writers, etc.

WHAT IS E-COMMERCE: EXAMPLES

Everyone from independent freelancers to small businesses to the largest of corporations can benefit
from the ability to sell their goods and services online at scale.

Here are some examples of types of e-commerce:

1. Retail: The sale of products directly to a consumer without an intermediary.
2. Dropshipping: The sale of products that are manufactured and shipped to consumers via a
third party.
3. Digital products: Downloadable items like templates, courses, e-books, software, or media
that must be purchased for use. Whether it’s the purchase of software, tools, cloud-based
products or digital assets, these represent a large percentage of ecommerce transactions.
4. Wholesale: Products sold in bulk. Wholesale products are usually sold to a retailer, who then
sells the products to consumers.
5. Services: These are skills like coaching, writing, influencer marketing, etc., that are purchased
and paid for online.
6. Subscription: A popular D2C model, subscription services are the recurring purchases of
products or services on a regular basis.
7. Crowdfunding: Crowdfunding allows sellers to raise startup capital in order to bring their
product to the market. Once enough consumers have purchased the item, it’s then created
and shipped.

SUCCESSFUL E-COMMERCE SITES

E-commerce accounts for trillions of dollars in sales every year. Today it’s almost inconceivable that
a company wouldn’t be using a digital space to drive sales and bottom lines.

Here are some of the top e-commerce companies:

 Alibaba: Launching in 1999, The Chinese company Alibaba is by far the world’s most
successful e-commerce company and retailer, hosting the largest B2B (Alibaba.com), C2C
(Taobao.com), and B2C (Tmall) marketplaces across the globe. Their online profits have
surpassed all US retailers – including Walmart and Amazon – combined since 2015.
 Amazon: Amazon is the largest e-commerce retailer in the United States, and has changed
the face of retail so much that a burning question for most retailers is how to beat Amazon.
 Walmart: Once the top retailer in the US, Walmart has focused mightily upon their online
business, with great results, offering traditional retail sales, as well as grocery delivery and
subscription services.
  eBay: One of the first e-commerce sites, eBay still dominates the digital market space,
allowing for businesses and individuals to sell their products online.
 Wayfair: This home furnishing e-tailer is a drop-shipper, carrying hardly any inventory. They
manage suppliers, orders, and fulfillment, and credit their success on personalization –
meaning they study how their customers engage and offer up products they believe
consumers most want.

BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE
Clearly online commerce offers a plethora of benefits. Let’s look at some of the biggest ones.
 Convenience: Online commerce makes purchases simpler, faster, and less time-consuming,
allowing for 24-hour sales, quick delivery, and easy returns.
 Personalization and customer experience: E-commerce marketplaces can create rich user
profiles that allow them to personalize the products offered and make suggestions for other
products that they might find interesting. This improves the customer experience by making
shoppers feel understood on a personal level, increasing the odds of brand loyalty.
 Global marketplace: Customers from around the world can easily shop e-commerce sites –
companies are no longer restricted by geography or physical barriers.
 Minimized expenses: Since brick and mortar is no longer required, digital sellers can launch
online stores with minimal startup and operating costs.