What is meant by E-Commerce?
Electronic commerce, widely written as e-commerce or eCommerce basically refers to the routine of trading, buying and selling of products and services electronically, that is over the internet. In the past few years, the eCommerce sector has expanded rapidly with more and more firms making their presence felt online. With the current trend, eCommerce is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years and completely changing the way we shop.
E-commerce is a sector that has grown steadily and made its way into our day to day life. We are all a part of the eCommerce ecosystem in ways we don't even notice like those endless hours we spend scrolling through Amazon and Snapdeal looking for books, clothes, shoes, electronic gadgets and what not. One of the main reasons why eCommerce took off so quickly was the ease it provided to the consumers as well as to businesses.
Consumers can view everything from availability of hotel rooms to grocery items from the comfort of their homes with just a tap of the finger. Sellers or traders are[ able to cater to thousands of customers online without having to worry about being short staffed or overcrowded. The most evident advantage of participating in eCommerce is its 24 hour operational facility. Especially as a consumer, weekdays can become grocery shopping days after work and weekends can be spared for fun only activities. Another advantage of eCommerce is the sheer variety and options that online stores provide as opposed to the physical counterparts. Nowadays, with the option of ordering gourmet online, basil from the farms in Thailand and authentic Parmesan cheese from Italy can be flown right at your door step.
Like any other business model, eCommerce too has its disadvantages. The most prominent ones being the intangibility of the products we wish to buy and the delay in getting our hands on on our purchase. When time is a crucial factor in making any sort of a purchase, eCommerce may not be the best option. After purchasing, the supplier may take long to ship it to the consumer desired destination and hence on such occasions online shopping can be done without.
The numerous eCommerce transactions that are carried out every minute all over the world give rise to massive amount of dynamic data. eCommerce is one of the major contributing sectors to the Big Data Explosion seen in recent years. This data generated due to eCommerce websites and platforms, when analysed, mined for information and represented in appropriate formats can be extremely powerful to decision makers. The trends and patterns observed from these information sets can prove to be important tools in business expansion and strategy design,
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGS
1)http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ecommerce.asp
2)http://www.networksolutions.com/education/what-is-ecommerce/
3)http://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/e-commerce-examples-case-studies/
E-commerce is a sector that has grown steadily and made its way into our day to day life. We are all a part of the eCommerce ecosystem in ways we don't even notice like those endless hours we spend scrolling through Amazon and Snapdeal looking for books, clothes, shoes, electronic gadgets and what not. One of the main reasons why eCommerce took off so quickly was the ease it provided to the consumers as well as to businesses.
Consumers can view everything from availability of hotel rooms to grocery items from the comfort of their homes with just a tap of the finger. Sellers or traders are[ able to cater to thousands of customers online without having to worry about being short staffed or overcrowded. The most evident advantage of participating in eCommerce is its 24 hour operational facility. Especially as a consumer, weekdays can become grocery shopping days after work and weekends can be spared for fun only activities. Another advantage of eCommerce is the sheer variety and options that online stores provide as opposed to the physical counterparts. Nowadays, with the option of ordering gourmet online, basil from the farms in Thailand and authentic Parmesan cheese from Italy can be flown right at your door step.
Like any other business model, eCommerce too has its disadvantages. The most prominent ones being the intangibility of the products we wish to buy and the delay in getting our hands on on our purchase. When time is a crucial factor in making any sort of a purchase, eCommerce may not be the best option. After purchasing, the supplier may take long to ship it to the consumer desired destination and hence on such occasions online shopping can be done without.
The numerous eCommerce transactions that are carried out every minute all over the world give rise to massive amount of dynamic data. eCommerce is one of the major contributing sectors to the Big Data Explosion seen in recent years. This data generated due to eCommerce websites and platforms, when analysed, mined for information and represented in appropriate formats can be extremely powerful to decision makers. The trends and patterns observed from these information sets can prove to be important tools in business expansion and strategy design,
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READINGS
1)http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/ecommerce.asp
2)http://www.networksolutions.com/education/what-is-ecommerce/
3)http://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/e-commerce-examples-case-studies/
