The benediction of science and technology are so many to describe. But the invention and application of internet services deserve special mention. Internet services are being randomly used throughout world. Right from shopping to fixing a business deal, everything is being done with the click of a mouse. People have become computer savvy. Their lives have been shaped by various electronic gadgets. With their dependency of electronic gadgets, terms like e-book, e-cards, e-commerce etc. have evolved.
The term ‘e-commerce’ is now a very well-known word. The word ‘e-commerce’ itself signifies ‘e-commerce through electronic medium’. It can also be described as the selling and buying of goods and services on the internet. A new term e-business has also evolved to mean the same thing. We can say it is commerce conducted electronically or simply interpret as an online business. It includes customer service functions, sales, marketing, advertising and many more. It also conducts exchange of goods, information, products or services via electronic medium.
Through this medium a buyer can make his purchase just with a click of a mouse, sitting at home but the seller had to crack hard nuts. So conducting e-commerce is not that easy as the word sounds. To start an online business a big and proper planning is the first thing. There should be an adequate source of production. Proper funding also plays a crucial part in any kind of business to keep it going. But that’s not all. To create markets for the products and to collect customers for selling those products are also vital points to remember. To taste the pinnacle of success, a strong customer service should be there.
E-commerce is also advantageous to other traditional businesses in many respects. If an e-commerce site is implemented well, the cost of transaction is quite lower than others. Moreover an online shop never closes. They always remain open and this provides the customers the opportunity to shop anytime of the hour. With the advent of e-commerce, the concept of shopping from home has emerged. Information about any article is available on the net. Customers can search and gather knowledge according to their needs. Before making any kind of purchase, the customers could widen their frontiers of knowledge so that they did not repent later. Geographic limitations are no more a hindrance in commerce. E-commerce makes the products and the services easily available to the customers without any geographical hurdles. Through this type of commerce the sellers of the goods and services are reaching easily to a wide range of customers, both inland and abroad. The buying process in this type of commerce is also advantageous. It provides the customers with a platform to search product information through global markets with a wider range of choice. They can tally the prices also to buy the cheap but the exclusive article. Delivery time and costs are saved when such purchases are made like e-books, audio clips, software games etc. Distance education is delivered via internet. Global reach of internet able different organizations to send messages worldwide, exploring new markets that traditional markets have difficulties accessing.
But there are also various disadvantages in this kind of commerce for both the buyers as well as the sellers. Expenses of getting popular server for the organization are very high. It is difficult enough to get people know about the product of the company and to made them visit the site. The demerits involved from the buyer’s angles are mainly the touch and feel factor. You cannot smell the product, nor can you take its warmth. You are only guided by feature list and the visual impression. Above all to get all these, rather to enjoy the beauty of the product you have to count days for its arrival. If the shipping is lengthy, certainly it will take the test of your patience. And when you come to realize what you purchased is not what you were looking for or the quality is not at par, there is no easy way to get it exchanged or return it to the seller.
With all these merits and limitations, E-commerce is here to stay. Because it is powered by the most precious thing in modern world, yes, it is time. In future it may change its color, can shift or penetrate into a different media, but the purpose will never be eradicated. In this fast paced world, people want to buy time so that they can invest it in earning money and E-commerce targets that. So, you know who will win.
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