E-Commerce and its Strategies :
1. What does E- Commerce means ?
- Amazon
- Flipkart
- eBay
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Olx . Quikrr
Choose a Platform There are a ton of e-commerce platforms currently available. Each one has it’s own set of advantages and disadvantages, including specialty markets, so make sure to do your research before selecting one. It will be hard to transition once you have your site setup. Some of the most popular platforms include Magento, WordPress, Shopify, and BigCommerce.
Register Your Domain If you can’t do so through your platform, you’ll need to purchase a web domain. Again, there a number of web hosts available so be diligent in your price comparisons.BlueHost is a very popular and affordable web hosting company that also registers domain names. Squarespace also has this capability.
Design Your Site Using your platform, design and create the basic layout of your site. You’ll want to consider what your selling and the aesthetic you’re aiming for. You may decide to use a template or theme provided by the platform rather than creating your own, just be sure it is consistent with your brand. You want your site to stand out and be recognizable as associated with your company specifically.
Post Products Once your site is designed and ready to go, be sure your have high quality product images and detailed product descriptions to post. You want to give customers a real idea of what they are getting when they buy your product, as one of the disadvantages of e-commerce is the inability to interact with a product prior to purchase.
3. Types of E- Commerce Models :
Electronic commerce can be classified into four main categories. The basis for this simple classification is the parties that are involved in the transactions. So the four basic electronic commerce models are as follows,
1. Business to Business :
This is Business to Business transactions. Here the companies are doing business with each other. The final consumer is not involved. So the online transactions only involve the manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers etc.
2. Business to Consumer :
Business to Consumer. Here the company will sell their goods and/or services directly to the consumer. The consumer can browse their websites and look at products, pictures, read reviews. Then they place their order and the company ships the goods directly to them.
3. Consumer to Consumer :
Consumer to consumer, where the consumers are in direct contact with each other. No company is involved. It helps people sell their personal goods and assets directly to an interested party. Usually, goods traded are cars, bikes, electronics etc. OLX, Quikr etc follow this model.
4. Consumer to Business :
This is the reverse of B2C, it is a consumer to business. So the consumer provides a good or some service to the company. Say for example an IT freelancer who demos and sells his software to a company. This would be a C2B transaction.
4. Advantages and Disadvantages of E- commerce ?
Advantages :
Electronic commerce also allows the customer and the business to be in touch directly, without any intermediaries. This allows for quick communication and transactions. It also gives a valuable personal touch.
- E-commerce provides the sellers with a global reach. They remove the barrier of place (geography). Now sellers and buyers can meet in the virtual world, without the hindrance of location.
- Electronic commerce will substantially lower the transaction cost. It eliminates many fixed costs of maintaining brick and mortar shops. This allows the companies to enjoy a much higher margin of profit.
- It provides quick delivery of goods with very little effort on part of the customer. Customer complaints are also addressed quickly. It also saves time, energy and effort for both the consumers and the company.
- One other great advantage is the convenience it offers. A customer can shop 24×7. The website is functional at all times, it does not have working hours like a shop.
- Electronic commerce also allows the customer and the business to be in touch directly, without any intermediaries. This allows for quick communication and transactions. It also gives a valuable personal touch.
- The start-up costs of the e-commerce portal are very high. The setup of the hardware and the software, the training cost of employees, the constant maintenance and upkeep are all quite expensive.
- Although it may seem like a sure thing, the e-commerce industry has a high risk of failure. Many companies riding the dot-com wave of the 2000s have failed miserably. The high risk of failure remains even today.
- At times, e-commerce can feel impersonal. So it lacks the warmth of an interpersonal relationship which is important for many brands and products.
- Security is another area of concern. Only recently, we have witnessed many security breaches where the information of the customers was stolen. Credit card theft, identity theft etc. remain big concerns with the customers.
- Then there are also fulfillment problems. Even after the order is placed there can be problems with shipping, delivery, mix-ups etc. This leaves the customers unhappy and dissatisfied.
The benefits of e-commerce include its around-the-clock availability, the speed of access, the wide availability of goods and services for the consumer, easy accessibility and international reach.
Availability. Aside from outages or scheduled maintenance, e-commerce sites are available 24x7, allowing visitors to browse and shop at any time.
Speed of access. While shoppers in a physical store can be slowed by crowds, e-commerce sites run quickly, which is determined by compute and bandwidth considerations on both consumer device and e-commerce site.
Wide availability. Amazon’s first slogan was “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore.” They could make this claim because they were an e-commerce site and not a physical store that had to stock each book on its shelves. E-commerce enables brands to make a wide array of products available, which are then shipped from a warehouse after a purchase is made.
Easy accessibility. Customers shopping a physical store may have a hard time determining which aisle a particular product is in. In e-commerce, visitors can browse product category pages and use the site search feature the find the product immediately.
International reach. By promoting the products With e-commerce, businesses can sell to any customer who can access the web. E-commerce has the potential to extend a business’ customer base globally.
Lower cost. Pure play e-commerce businesses avoid the cost associated with physical stores, such as rent, inventory and cashiers, although they may incur shipping and warehouse costs.
Personalization and product recommendations. E-commerce sites can track visitors’ browse, search and purchase history. They can leverage this data to present useful and personalized product recommendation.