Skip to main content

Advantages of E-commerce


The advantages of e-commerce can be enumerated in following categories:
  1. Advantages to Customers
    • Reduced Prices: Cost of products are reduced since stages along the value chain are decreased. For example, intermediaries can be eliminated by the company directly selling to the consumer instead of distributing through a retail store.
    • Global Marketplace: Consumers can shop anywhere in the world. Currently, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), there are no custom duties put on products bought and trade globally electronically. This also provides wide selection of products and services to consumers.
    • 24-Hour Access: Online businesses never sleep as opposed to brick and mortar businesses. E commerce allows people to carry out businesses without the barriers of time or distance. One can log on to the internet at any point of time, be it day or night and purchase or sell anything one desire at a single click of the mouse.
    • More Choices: Electronic Commerce provides consumers with more choices. For example, before making any purchase, customer can study about all the major brands and features of any item. It also provides consumers with less expensive products and services by allowing them to shop in many places and conduct quick comparisons.
    • Quicker Delivery: e commerce allows quick delivery of products and services (in some cases) especially with digitised products.
    • Information: Consumer can receive relevant and detailed information in seconds, rather than in days or weeks.
  2. Advantages to Businesses
    • Increased Potential Market Share: The internet enables businesses to have access to international markets thereby increasing their market share. Companies can also achieve greater economies of scale.
    • Low-Cost Advertising: Advertising on the internet costs less than advertising on print or television depending on details and extent of the advertisement. A company can still spend a lot on advertising on the internet if the company hires and external party to create their advertisements but advertising on the internet itself is less costly since there is less cost associated with it in terms of printing and limited television spots.
    • Low Barriers to Entries: Anyone can start up a company on the internet. Start-up costs are lower for companies since there is less need of money for capital.
    • Strategic Benefit: The strategic benefit of making a business 'E-Commerce enabled' is that it helps reduce the delivery time, labour cost and the cost incurred in the following areas:
      • Document preparation
      • Error detection and correction
      • Reconciliation
      • Mail preparation
      • Telephone calling
      • Data entry
      • Overtime
      • Supervision expenses
    • Global Reach: Business organisations are able to send message worldwide, explore new market and reached globally at lower cost. E-Commerce helps to attract customers and business clients from anywhere in the world due to global reach.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Post

Competitive Advantage - Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Sustainable competitive advantage may be realised by adoption of e-commerce strategies and business models. Rather than simply exchanging procurement transactions as with e-commerce practices, leading enterprises are executing e- commerce to share intellectual capital with their trading partners working as a value chain that provides a competitive advantage for the development and distribution of their products. The idea of giving the customer access to tracking information via the internet was a new one that had considerable appeal to the customer. For example , the use of new system also had considerable advantage to FedEx who no longer had to deal with a vast number of calls checking up on progress of consignment; because the customer could now access the system themselves. But e-commerce development and implementation could not be entirely private- customer had to become involved at some stage. The competitor was quick to catch on to the idea and UPS (United Parsal Services) was so...
Post a Comment
Read more

E-Commerce Implementation

The strategy diagram divides implementation into the technical and the business aspects and these are briefly considered below: Technical Implementation : The approach to technical implementation of an E-Commerce system depends on the business objectives, business requirements and technologies that have been selected. It is noted that many internet E-Commerce systems are cobbled(repaired) together rather than designed and that is often apparent. It is important that the design process considers: Is of use of system by intended end-users : Always an important factor in system design but crucial if the end user are to be members of the public with perhaps limited computer literacy and the option to switch to an alternative website if not satisfied. Functionality that users need : This has to be what the users want rather than what the organisation things they need. Uses of e-commerce are not a captive audience that can be interviewed and evaluated like the uses of a traditional IS develo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Electronic commerce introduction

Electronic Commerce ( e-commerce ) generally refers to all forms of transactions relating to commercial activities, involving both organizations and individuals that are based upon the processing and transmission of digitised data, including text, sound and visual images. E-Commerce has created a new environment in business transactions using internet. It deals with providing information to consumers regarding products of their interest. It provides a platform of advertisement of products, allows negotiations, order for raw materials, settlement of financial transactions etc. Electronic commerce is an integrations of communication services, data management and security mechanisms that allows organizations to exchange information about the sale of goods and services, where, Communication services supports the transfer of information from the buyer to the seller electronically. Data management is the exchange and storing of data in a uniform format to facilitate easy exchange of infor...
Post a Comment
Read more