What Is E-Commerce: Understanding its Advantages, Disadvantages, Types, and Uses

Do you want to know what e-commerce is and how it is developing? So in this post, we will be able to get detailed information about this. If you have any questions related to e-commerce, then you will get answers to all your questions.

Doing business through the Internet is called e-commerce or electronic commerce. In simple words, providing your service or services in the virtual world of the Internet is called e-commerce.

‘Change’: This is the thing with the help of which man reached such a high level, that no other animal could reach.

From the beginning, man kept making necessary changes in the things around him and used them as per his benefit and need. Now take the wheel, for example. If even today man had used wood in the shape of round boards, would it have been as easy to travel thousands of miles as it is today?

If mobile phones had not been transformed, would you have been able to use your smartphone today? It is only because of change that it has become possible that today you can read an article written by me so easily.

Similarly, many important changes took place in the fields of market and industry from time to time, and one of the important changes was introducing the world to e-commerce. E-commerce came like a revolution and completely shook the industry sector.

But what is e-commerce, and what is its importance? Perhaps this same question has come to your mind as well. But, don’t worry. In this article, I will give you all the information related to e-commerce, one by one. So first of all, let us know what e-commerce is.

What Is E-commerce?

These services include buying and selling of goods on the internet, marketing, delivering the goods to the address, online payment of bills, online banking, etc.

For example, you can take some popular and famous companies in India like Flipkart, Paytm, etc. You must have seen that some sellers sell their goods on these platforms.

At the same time, by visiting these websites, the customer can easily buy the goods as per his needs in a few minutes.

Apart from accessories, many companies have also started providing the facility of recharging mobile phones and D2H.

Electronic commerce began in the 1960s when many companies around the world began sharing business documents with other companies using the Internet’s feature, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

After this, companies like eBay and Amazon entered the internet field and brought about a revolution in this field.

How Many Types Of E-Commerce Are There?

E-commerce can be divided into the following six categories:

1. Business-to-Business (B2B)

In this case, a business or company contacts another business or company to receive service instead of the customer. For example, you can use a directory website.

In this, a company or industrialist contacts another online directory website with the help of which he can register his name in that directory.

This benefits both. The directory website owner gets his customers, and other industrialists can promote their services through that website and reach more and more customers.

2. Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

In this type of industry, the industrialist sells his product or service directly to the customer through the Internet. This type of business is very much in vogue these days.

On online stores like Amazon and Flipkart, the seller delivers his goods to the customers and charges a fair price for them.

3. Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)

In this type of business, a consumer sells his goods or services to another consumer through the Internet.

Most of the goods sold are second-hand or second-hand. To understand this, you can take the example of platforms like OLX and QuickR.

On these websites, a consumer sells his old and used product to another consumer at a cheap price.

4. Consumer-to-Business (C2B)

To understand this type of business, we use some examples.

You must have heard the name of upwork.com. If not, then let me tell you that this is a website on which you can easily hire workers to get any of your office or study work done. Workers take money from you according to their hard work and time.

But, to hire those workers, you have to create an ad and post the details of your work, with the help of which the workers reach you.

Similarly, to get an online insurance policy, you have to submit your requirements on many websites, which are reviewed by appropriate agents who provide their services to you.

In the given example, we saw that in this type of business, first, you have to put your requirements in the form of an ad, after which the service-providing agents provide their services to you.

In simple language, it can be said that in this case, the consumer contacts the business owner so that he can avail the benefits of his services.

You must have heard the saying “Every coin has two sides.” Similarly, e-commerce also has some advantages and disadvantages, which we have explained in detail below.

Advantages Of E-Commerce

make life comfortable

If we talk about the biggest advantage of e-commerce, it is that it increases convenience. Anyone sitting at home can easily order big items like a TV, fridge, and AC in just a few minutes.

It seems as if e-commerce has proved to be a boon for people who are often busy.

Now, like before, people can easily fulfill their needs without going to the market every week, and many websites also deliver vegetables and fruits.

You can get vegetables and fruits at your home within a few hours of placing your order.

A good option for start-up

People interested in business can start up easily. Opening an online store is much easier than opening a physical store and can be handled easily.

Funds also have to be invested in this, and it is a good option for part-time or full-time jobs.

You can make payments easily

A big advantage of e-commerce is that you can easily pay for any service by availing of it.

You are given many options for payment. You can get the money deducted from your bank account.

If you order a product online, you can also pay for it at the time of delivery. Now, many websites also offer the option to pay on EMI.

In this case, you have to pay the entire amount not at once but at the stipulated time in the form of interest.

Can compare products or prices?

If you buy a product online, you can compare its price and specifications with those of other websites and sellers.

With this, you get the product at a reasonable price. Apart from this, you can also avail a discount on that product with the help of a coupon.

Easy Return Policy

If you do not like the delivered item or product or if it has any defects, you can easily replace or return it.

For this, you just have to go to the website and click on returns, and with one click, you can return or replace that product within the stipulated time.

Disadvantages Of E-Commerce

Defect in product

Friends, as you now know, e-commerce is virtual commerce.

Many times, when shopping online, many items turn out to be defective or spoiled. If you buy clothes from the market, you can check them by physically touching them.

Apart from this, you can also try it on yourself by going to the changing room. However, this is not possible in the world of e-commerce. You cannot check the products physically.

However, you can return or replace them if they turn out to be defective, but the entire process takes a long time.

Product delivery time takes a long time.

Many times, the shipment of the product takes a long time, due to which we do not get our product on time. This is the biggest drawback of e-commerce.

Many times, the dress ordered for a wedding is received only after the marriage. Due to this, the consumer has to face inconveniences.

threat of hacking

While purchasing a product online, you have to provide any personal details, like credit card details, your mobile number, and your address.

If such information falls into the wrong hands, it can lead to problems like data leakage. I would like to advise you that whenever you do online shopping, always do it from a trusted website.

Some Features of E-Commerce:

access:

The Internet today is spread in every corner of the country, and with its help, you can avail of online services anywhere and anytime.

Corruption-free:

If you buy something from shops, many times you are overcharged, and you are unable to do anything even after knowing it.

But in the world of e-commerce, no one charges you extra, and even if this happens to you, you can easily report such a seller.

Details:

When you buy a product online, you are given complete information about the product. If you want to order a mobile phone,.

So you are told in detail about all its details like its processor, memory, etc.

With its help, you can buy the product not according to the trend, but according to its specialty.

Development Of E-Commerce 

The e-commerce sector is growing very rapidly in India. The revenue from e-commerce was approximately US$39 billion in 2017, and it is estimated that this amount will increase to US$120 billion by 2020.

If we talk about percentages, this industry is growing at a rate of 51 percent every year, which is much faster than in other countries.

Scope Of E-Commerce

Electronic commerce is not limited to just online buying and selling.

It is just like a normal business in which there are different stages like developing, marketing, selling, delivering, and paying, all these are included.

There has been a huge increase in internet users here, about 300 million people have now started using the internet, which makes India the third largest country in terms of internet users.

Recently, we and you have witnessed that instead of going to the market to buy goods, people have started ordering the goods at home and getting the goods delivered to their homes.

People are becoming more comfortable. This is the reason that instead of direct shopping, online shopping is being done among people.

There has been tremendous growth in the field of electronic commerce in India. Our country has become a witness to the success stories of online electronic stores.

If we talk about it, a huge increase has been seen in online sales in the fields of fashion and electronics. There is an opening for new traders in the field of electronic commerce.

Let us know what types of scopes there are in this field.

• Due to the reduction in internet expenses, the number of internet users is increasing significantly.
• Customers can be easily attracted by providing facilities like cash on delivery as well as a 15–30% return facility.
• There are still many parts of India where online delivery does not reach the pin codes, and such areas are mostly available, although internet facilities have also reached these areas. So by reaching out to these areas, a huge number of customers can be welcomed.
• Another facility that can be provided online in this area is health-related services. There are many places in India where there are no medicine shops. If good health services are provided in these areas, then there will be good growth in them.
•  I have a feeling that, like online facilities and services, if ambulance facilities are provided in these areas by making online calls at a low cost, then this is also a very good opportunity for those who start it.

 In Short

Friends, today you learned what e-commerce is, its history, and its advantages and disadvantages. Apart from this, you also learned whether there are opportunities to progress in this field or not. What I mean to say is, what is the scope of e-commerce? (scope of e-commerce).

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