What is E-Commerce?

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Regardless of the rather bad development of the technology stock markets during the past few months, the number of people using internet to purchase products is likely to rise even more this year.

If we turn to the practical side of the whole thing, what are the most relevant details about

Building an E-Commerce Site

First of all, you need what your:

- suppliers (this is not different from a normal company – without good suppliers and efficient ways of purchasing goods you cannot offer products)
- prices (as price comparisons are very easy on the internet, you must have more competitive prices than the competition)
- customer relations (it means communicating with your (potential) customers efficiently – via e-mail, forums, chat-rooms, FAQ-pages, ... – try to provide as much information as possible)
- fulfillment and service (as for every other company in the "real" world you must provide quick and correct handling of the customers orders as well as an effective online-service)

will be.

Implementing an E-Commerce Site

Now you can step on to creating your site.
Generally there are 3 possibilities how you can do this:

- enterprise computing (E C means that you have to purchase your own software and hardware and hire your own team of developers and supporters just to create and maintain your site – big firms which are very frequently visited by customers would usually do this).
- virtual hosting services (VHS means that all the facilieties required

(such as the necessary hard- and software, security, ...) is provided and maintaned by another firm, for payment, of course. Usually it is a company specialised in providing VHS).
- simplified e-commerce (Here you just pay a company specialised in developing e-commerce systems to create a simple site for you. You must already have the necessary hard- and software. The basic functions of a simplified e-commerce system include displaying a product catalogue, allowing users to browse through it and allowing them to buy items from it).

Most of the B2C e-commerce companies use one of these systems. And there are too many who just implement the simplified solution and forget about offering online customer support and help and even keeping the site up-to- date.
A lack of customer support is only one of the reasons why e-commerce is in a crisis now.

Trends for the future

As you can see on the graph the purchase rates are rising steadily. A recent study found out that most e-commerce website owners are generally optimistic. Three-quarters say their online market is expanding, while two- thirds say their ability to attract new customers is improving. Half of those polled say they are also seeing increased loyalty from past customers. So, as the customers get used to e-commerce, it becomes more popular. It may not replace the common way to buy and sell products but for most companies it offers new ways to reach their customers.

E-Commerce

Categories of E-Commerce

Benefits of E-Commerce

* lower transaction costs

* availability

* large quantity of information

* providing "up-to-date" information

* comparison of prices and products

* quickness

Disadvantages of E-Commerce

* hard to make yourself "visible"

* hard to differ from competition