Main menu

Pages

Introduction to electronic commerce: its concept, types, and advantages

What is e-commerce?

Introduction to electronic commerce: its concept, types, and advantages


The process of selling and selling products online is known as tailing. They can make purchases on their desktop computers as well as other devices such as mobile phones, desktops, wearables, and digital assistants such as Amazon Echo devices.

E-commerce in the B2C and B2B sectors. B2C. 

You sell one business to another in B2B e-commerce. , at any time, or at any time, or in cars in both areas.

 Simply put, big data into larger and more complex data sets, especially when it comes from new sources. Conventional data processing algorithms while dealing with NAT data volumes. 

This vast amount of data, it can solve business challenges that you were unable to solve previously.


What are the types of e-commerce?


In fact, there are 6 main types of e-commerce are as follows:

  • B2B Business-to-Consumer B2C.
  • among C2C consumers.
  • From Consumer to Corporate C2B.
  • From companies to B2A departments.
  • From Consumer to Administration C2A.


Let's get acquainted in more detail with each of these types:


1- B2B or Business-to-Business e-commerce

This type of commerce includes all electronic transactions of goods or services that take place between businesses. 

This type of e-commerce is commonly used by item producers and traditional distributors.

2- B2C or e-commerce from a company to a consumer, where e-commerce relationships are established between companies and end consumers, as this type is very similar to the retail department in traditional commerce.

Business relationships of this type are easier and more dynamic. It is worth noting that e-commerce between businesses and consumers has developed significantly in the last portal. And books, and our faces, and foods, and foods.


3- Consumer-to-consumer C2C or consumer-to-consumer e-commerce

In this type of e-commerce electronic transactions of goods or services between consumers.Where these transactions are conducted through a third party that provides a platform or system that enables consumers to actually complete these transactions.


4- Consumer-to-Business (C2B) e-commerce, which is an abbreviation of the word Consumer-to-Business. 

This type of e-commerce is particularly common in social outsourcing or crowdsourcing projects where a large number of individuals offer their services and products for sale to companies that are specifically looking for these types of services and products. 

An example of this type of commerce is websites where graphic designers submit their offers to design the logo of a major company, for example, and then the company chooses only one design and buys it. Or, for example, websites that sell royalty-free images, sound, and various other design elements, such as stock photos.


5- B2A e-commerce This type of e-commerce known as Business-to-Administration includes all transactions that take place over the Internet between various companies and government administrative institutions.

This field includes a wide variety of services such as tax, social, legal records, and the like. 

The spread of these services has increased in recent years, especially with the large investments that have been made in developing and building e-governments.


6- Electronic commerce from the consumer to the administration (C2A) and  from the consumer to the administration, as this type of e-commerce includes all electronic transactions between individuals and government departments, such as:


  1. Education: distance education, information dissemination...etc.
  2. Social Security: dissemination of information related to this area, payments ... the.
  3. Taxes: from filing tax returns, payments, and more.
  4.  Health sector: booking medical appointments, information and awareness brochures about diseases, paying for health care services...etc.

Advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce

Introduction to electronic commerce: its concept, types, and advantages



After you got acquainted with the concept of e-commerce and its types, it is now important to know its most important advantages and strengths, in addition to its negatives and disadvantages. This is so you can make your own decision about entering this world or sticking to traditional trading.

The main advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of e-commerce


1- Low material cost


Cheap start-up expenses are one of the major advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce.
 Traditional stores require thousands of dollars to rent space, in addition to many other upfront costs such as storefront design, store purchase, inventory purchase, vending equipment, and more.
Without forgetting also that the owner sooner or later will have to hire a number of individuals to ensure the progress of work, especially if the store has several branches in multiple locations.
 In e-commerce, you will not need any of that, you do not have to rent any real website on the ground to start your business in selling, and designing a website will undoubtedly be less expensive than designing a real store, and you will not need any employees to manage your store, where you can do Do it yourself while sitting on the comfortable sofa in your home!


2- Continuous income around the clock


Another advantage of e-commerce is that e-stores remain open around the clock! Through your store ads or Google ads, you can attract new customers after midnight or after 4 am! And from anywhere in the world. Unlike traditional stores, which usually operate between nine in the morning and ten in the evening.
 By keeping the online store open around the clock, it will undoubtedly attract those who cannot go to traditional stores during their working hours or who do not prefer traditional shopping and spend a lot of time searching for the product they want.

3- Global sales


Through e-commerce, you will transcend geographical barriers and take your project to the global level. You may find your clients in the other part of the world, or in neighbouring countries and you will be able to provide your services to them easily, without having to be with them in the same country or city.

4- Ease of displaying the best-selling products


This feature allows online store owners to display their merchandise to customers. While traditional merchants may have to put in a lot of effort and money to design the way goods are presented in order to attract customers, the customer in the online store can easily and comfortably find the best-selling products. 
Why do you want your customers to find these products in particular? Simply because its quality has been proven, other customers have bought it and tried it, satisfied with it. And you can easily show these special products to your audience through sponsored emails or through ads on Facebook or Google!

5- A great place for your introverted customers!


Some introverts reject the idea of ​​visiting a traditional store and engaging in discussions with employees there in order to purchase a particular product, whether these discussions are inquiries about the nature of the product, negotiations about its price, or even responding to sellers. 
Questions about what exactly they want. These people will be really happy with the online shopping experience as it does not involve much interaction with others. 
And if the customer wants to communicate with the store owner, all he has to do is press the "instant chat" button, communicate via e-mail, or send a message to the store's official page on Facebook to get all the answers he is looking for!

6- Ease of accessing and benefiting from customer data


One of the main advantages of e-commerce is that you can easily access and analyze your customers' data.
Many customers don't mind sharing their email, addresses, or even some personal information about them when they buy products online.
Contrary to their reaction if a traditional store salesman asks them to do the same. 
By analyzing this data, you will undoubtedly be able to provide better service to your customers, build a stronger relationship with them, and even customize the way you market your products based on their needs and desires.


Disadvantages of e-commerce

Introduction to electronic commerce: its concept, types, and advantages



With every positive feature or advantage of e-commerce, there are undoubtedly its downsides or weaknesses. In the end, we have to be realistic because nothing is absolutely perfect. Here are some of those negatives:

1- Customers cannot purchase products if the site is down


One of the worst downsides to e-commerce is that no one will be able to buy your products if your online store website goes down or down. For this reason, it is extremely important that your site is hosted on a proper e-commerce platform.
For example, if you pay a minimum hosting fee on a specialized platform, and there is a jump in the number of visitors to your store as a result of an advertising campaign or a TV ad, it is likely that your site will collapse due to a large number of visitors, which may cause you a big financial loss.

2- Customers cannot try the products


Although it is currently the biggest problem for most online sellers, it will not remain so for long, with VR and AR technologies it is possible to try many products before buying them. This allows for a more interactive customer experience. 
How is that? For example, you can take a look at the Sephora Virtual Artist app which is an online cosmetics store, which allows girls to try many colours of eye shadows and lipsticks before deciding to buy them.

3- A very competitive field


One of the worst flaws in e-commerce is fighting for customers. 
The best areas of this trade are often very competitive, which attracts most entrepreneurs. This is not all, the more competitive the field becomes, the higher the cost of advertising associated with that field, and the more difficult it is to monetize.
To overcome this problem, you have two solutions: either follow a different marketing strategy than your competitors, or resort to less expensive ways to advertise and advertise your products, such as getting your customers to read blogs and posts about the products, and then converting them to the product display page to buy from them instead. 
who directed it to her.

4- Customers can lose patience


If a customer has a question while shopping in a traditional store, the salesperson will always be there to answer it. However, this may not be available in some online stores. Many of them were late in responding to customer inquiries. 
Just as the advantage of e-commerce is that it is available around the clock, one of its drawbacks is the lack of customer service around the clock, something that many companies have already begun to do by hiring people in the field of customer service to work in the night and morning shifts in order to provide Helping hand.
 And respond to customer inquiries at all times.

5- The process of shipping products and delivering them to customers may take a lot of time 


E-commerce customers find that shipping and delivery times are one of the worst drawbacks of this type of commerce. Online shopping has to wait a while

Some electronic games began to provide the same-day delivery of products, such as the famous Amazon company, but this method was not profitable at first due to its high cost and customer hesitation, and the situation did not change until after the completion of the service, limited to distinguished customers only.

You have a good idea of ​​the concept and types of e-commerce, as well as their pros and cons, and it's time to think about opening your first online store!

Comments