The topic I choose is e-commerce. E-commerce is definitely the future of online sales. From startups to small businesses right through to huge brands, e-commerce websites can provide a platform for these businesses to sell their products or services. No customers want to venture to the high streets to buy items in this competitive and convenience society. Instead, they want to shop from their own homes making e-commerce a flexible solution for both sellers and buyers. It allows buyers to access products or services 24 hours a day along with online customer service social media and blogs (Le & Liaw, 2017). Online shops are operational at all times and no matter what schedule some has, he or she can still buy products or access to certain services.
E-commerce is basically the process involved in the buying or selling products or services over the internet. E-commerce employs techniques such as mobile commerce, supply chain management, internet marketing, electronic data interchange, and automatic data collection systems. It relies on the World Wide Web and other technologies such as email complete the transactions (Patel et al., 2018). Some of the items that can be bought via e-commerce include online books, music purchases, and online liquor store inventory services.
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Types of E-commerce
E-commerce websites can be classified in many ways ranging from the products or services they sell, parties involved in the transactions, or the platforms they use. This classification includes business to business (B2B). This type of e-commerce consists of all the electronic dealings and transactions related to services and goods (Le & Liaw, 2017). Literally, this business model occurs between companies and it includes wholesalers and producers dealing with retailers. A good example is Xero, an online accounting software that used by small businesses.
Consumer to business (C2B) is a model that occurs when a customer contributes monetary value to a business. The model is common for crowdsourcing projects. Here, individuals make items which they sell to companies. Examples of this model include a proposal for the company logo, design element, and royalty free pictures. Business to administration (B2A) is a type of e-commerce transaction that involves companies and public administration dealings (Patel et al., 2018). This model involves large amounts and a variety of services in areas of social security, fiscal and legal and registers.
Business to consumers (B2C) is a type of e-commerce related to transactions and relationships between companies and customers. It mainly deals with retail trade that occurs online. B2C has developed faster due to the invention of the web which has made it possible for many virtual stores and malls on the internet to sell various types of consumer goods (Patel et al., 2018).
E-commerce Platforms
This involves the processes through which e-commerce transactions take place. These platforms include online storefronts. Online stores fronts are the website that created by merchants which enable them to sell their products and services using shopping carts and e-commerce solutions. Examples of top e-commerce platforms are Magento, Demandware, oracle commerce, Shopify, volusion, and drupal commerce. The second e-commerce platform is online marketplaces. These are sites that aid transactions between sellers and consumers. Examples of online marketplaces include Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, Etsy, Upwork and Fiverr (Le & Liaw, 2017).
E-commerce Successful Examples
The following are successful examples of e-commerce sites on the web. The first and most successful site in the world is Amazon. Other than flourishing in the place as a third-party seller, Amazon enjoys overwhelming revenue from its Prime membership and subsidiaries like Amazon Web Services and Zappos.com (Patel et al., 2018). The major pillars behind the success of Amazon include; creativity, being customer-centric, putting emphasis on customer experience and continuous optimization and improvement.
Wayfair is another successful site that provides a vast selection of over 7 million items. In 2013, Wayfair netted an estimate of $ 18 million on $915million with over 36 million visits (Le & Liaw, 2017). The major reasons for Wayfair’s success are proper management of supplies and orders. It strives to understand the demands of its customers.
E-commerce is relevant to the course on digital and social media. Social sites enable buying and selling by directing buyers to a retailer’s e-commerce site. Social sites also allow users to purchase goods on the platform. Social networks like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest are used by merchants to showcase their merchandise. For example, digital solutions like Like2Buy are used by most retailers to enable buyers to purchase the products that interest them on their Instagram feed by clicking on the merchant’s Like2Buy link.
The first additional source of information that provides more information about e-commerce and digital marketing came from “ social networks and e-commerce as marketing tools ” a journal written by Mata and Quesada. This source is relevant because it provides sufficient information regarding social networks and e-commerce as marketing tools. It is credible because it has the names of the authors; Mata and Quesada. The source is also reliable because it provides a thorough and well-reasoned theory related to the topic. The source is unbiased because it provides a vivid description of how social networks and e-commerce are can be used marketing.
This source sheds light on the link between social network and e-commerce under different perspectives. First is a brand image. According to the source, at least every five minutes spent online, one goes to the social networks. Social network such as LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook is now the most important visible marketing tools for the company’s brand image ( Mata & Quesada, 2014 ). Currently, LinkedIn has over 300 million users meaning that social media can aid in establishing a virtuous circle.
Social media help to keep an eye on the level of competition and stand out. It allows sellers to advertise simultaneously and get your client information. This has made it easy for buyers to gather information regarding products before purchasing. Social media particularly has become an important tool to produce and convert visitors into promising leads. More and more customers use Twitter and Facebook, to search their purchases. This has reduced the impact of newsletter and TV advertisements drastically to the advantage of social media
The second source is “Key business drivers and opportunities in cross-border e-commerce” written by McDermott and Payvision. This journal is relevant to the topic since provide substantial information reading the opportunities for e-commerce. It is credible because it has the writers’ names and the place of publication. The article is unbiased because it offers an extensive report on the already existing markets as well as the emerging ones. These opportunities include VR shopping. While e-commerce solved the problem of long queues, physical stores still have one advantage over their online competitors; the experience. Most companies have begun to offer VR shopping opportunities to their clients (McDermott & Payvision, 2015). Up to date, it’s only Alibaba which has introduced the virtual reality possibilities to their buyers.
The second opportunity is someday delivery and drone delivery. Customers want instant, fast, delivered today or even better than yesterday. In e-commerce, it is now clear that the only way to succeed is to make plans of delivering products to their customers instantly. Among the pioneers of instant delivery is Amazon followed by Jingdong of China. Live streaming is also another opportunity that merchants can explore. This can be done through monetizing live videos in order to increase the general appeal to increase brand awareness building stronger communities and engage consumers (McDermott & Payvision, 2015).
Advantages of E-commerce
E-commerce has the ability to reach the global market without incurring high financial investment. Since it has no specified geographical coverage, e-commerce allows buyers to make a global choice, get the right information and compare prices from potential suppliers regardless of their locations (Le & Liaw, 2017).
E-commerce allows buyers to be closer to their suppliers, leading to an increased productivity and competitiveness of companies. Customers are also able to choose who to buy from depending on the relevance of products. Moreover, buyers have access to virtual stores in 24hours.
Limitations of Ecommerce
The other limitation of e-commerce is that it required technical qualified and highly talented workforce to manage and even develop the websites for different organizations that wish to embrace e-commerce (Le & Liaw, 2017). Due to the reason that the internet offers several job opportunities, organizations have to incur high costs to retain the employees that are highly talented.
The challenge that is the hardest to deal with is security. Even with encryption and other methods of ensuring privacy and protection, there are hackers that can still find their way into the websites. It is also hard to deal with because it involves the security of client data and information that are the major part of a business (Patel et al., 2018).
In conclusion, digital media and e-commerce are inseparable. Companies such as Amazon will continue to reap more profits because they have all it takes to succeed in form of market. The integration of e-commerce with social media symbolizes a new era for the web ecosystem. The merchant should, therefore, take this opportunity to properly use social networks with a goal of selling on or through the social network.
References
Le, T. M., & Liaw, S. Y. (2017). Effects of Pros and Cons of Applying Big Data Analytics to Consumers’ Responses in an E-Commerce Context. Sustainability , 9 (5), 798.
Mata, F. J., & Quesada, A. (2014). Web 2.0, social networks and e-commerce as marketing tools. Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research , 9 (1), 56-69.
McDermott, K., & Payvision, B. V. (2015). Key business drivers and opportunities in cross-border e-commerce. Payvision, Amsterdam .
Patel, D., Goyal, S., & Agarwal, R. (2018). E-Commerce Business Model. In Improving E-Commerce Web Applications Through Business Intelligence Techniques (pp. 110-129). IGI Global.
