E-Commerce Website
commerce refers to businesses and consumers buying and selling products online. The majority of e-commerce websites on the internet are retail stores selling products directly to the public. However there are also a proportion of online stores dedicated to business-to-business (B2B) sales or wholesale activity. E-commerce does not only refer to the selling of physical products, it can also refer to the selling of services where payments for the services are made online. As a general rule an e-commerce website is a website where a transfer of funds is completed electronically - hence e-commerce.
How does e-commerce work?
Because there are hundreds of different products and services for consumers and the multitude of different ways these products and services can be delivered, e-commerce by its nature is varied in the way it works. In its most basic form e-commerce works as follows: Consumers choose a product or service on a website Consumers pay electronically on the website (online credit card transactions) or using a third party payment provider such as PayPal The business owner or merchant receives the order and payment and the order is fulfilled (delivered by post, booked in for services etc) Making payments online is completed via a secure connection to ensure that sensitive data such as credit card details and personal information are kept private.
Benefits of e-commerce to the consumer
- Quick, easy and convenient
- Product comparisons
- Products / Services Page: This would be just an overview of what your business offers.
- Archive past material on a certain date or allows an item to be published or removed at a certain date automatically.
E-commerce has enabled the consumer to complete transactions from the comfort of their own home, transactions that would usually happen within the walls of a store.
Not only are consumers finding it quick and more convenient to shop online but they are also making more comparisons than ever.
Many consumers are turning to e-commerce for their needs due to the lower price for many everyday items.
Benefits of e-commerce to the merchant
- Reduced costs
- Shorter time frames
- Increased consumer reach
End consumers are treated to lower prices and this is all due to reduced costs for the merchant. Online retailing requires no sales staff, hence a reduced labour cost.
E-commerce allows for highly reduces lead times, as well as the more efficient delivery of products.
E-commerce allows online merchants to stock a larger product range than a traditional store. This larger product range means more products are suited to a larger consumer base and hence greater possible reach.
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