Advantages and Disadvantages of E-commerce:
Many people see online sales as the possibility to earn extra money and to gain long-awaited financial freedom. Undoubtedly, this sales modality is an excellent way to achieve this plan, but for that, it needs a lot of planning. Eager to put the plan into practice, many digital entrepreneurs fail to assess the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce. As a result, they begin to sell without having prior planning and make mistakes that could be easily avoided. The result? They are not always able to sell as much as they would like.
HOW DOES ELECTRONIC COMMERCE WORK?
First, if you want to sell online, you need to know how e-commerce works. Many people who already have experience with high street store sales believe that online sales occur in the same way. However, this is not the absolute truth, the logic of attracting consumers changes a lot from the physical to the
digital world. Imagine a new high street store located on an avenue in your city. You agree that if she opens the doors, customers will be able to come in to see the products, don’t you? However, an online store can never expect consumers to arrive of their own free will because that simply doesn’t exist in the internet world.
E-commerce works through advertisements, whereas a physical store can use advertisements only if it wants to complement the flow of consumers. We will talk later about the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce. Thus, you will be able to adapt your strategies to attract good consumers and sell a lot.
WHAT TYPES OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE?
A lot is said about e-commerce as if there was only one type of virtual store. However, there are different ways to create e-commerce, and the choice varies a lot depending on the type of product, segment, and size of the store. Check out the main types:
LEASED PLATFORM
This is one of the most chosen modalities by those who want to sell online. It works from a monthly plan that allows the e-commerce manager to use pre-defined resources, being able to customize the layout and include products and services. It is a good alternative for small and medium businesses.
OPEN-SOURCE PLATFORM
This type of platform is free and customizable. However, it requires high prior knowledge on the part of the e-commerce manager, making it necessary to hire a qualified professional, which increases costs.
OWN PLATFORM
This modality is built from scratch, which means that it has a high innovation character while also having a high cost. It is mainly used by large online retail stores, which have needs that are not met by other platforms.
MARKETPLACE
This type of platform brings together several sellers from different segments, having a structure similar to a virtual shopping mall. The big advantage for the merchant is that the marketplace itself is responsible for the tool and for attracting the public. To participate, the seller must pay a percentage of
sales.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE?
Before starting to sell online, it is essential to know the market you are entering. And also understand its configuration in the digital universe. We often believe that a given sector offers good opportunities, when, in fact, it already has fierce competition, with no room for new brands. In the same way, we can stop looking at certain segments, without realizing that they hold good opportunities for sellers who want to innovate. But of course, all this can only be done by knowing the strengths and weaknesses of online sales. Next, find out what the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce are.
The Internet has become the space par excellence for thousands of daily interactions that we carry out daily. In the realm of interpersonal communication, this is where the web takes all the prizes. Likewise, e-commerce has become an alternative increasingly used by users. If you still don’t know what e-commerce is, I’ll tell you that it is known as those commercial transactions such as the purchase and sale of products and services through the Internet and computer networks. Without a doubt, e-commerce, or eCommerce as it is also known, has radically transformed the current market, which is not understood without including this form of marketing.
Despite its many advantages, e-commerce still has some limitations that we’ll talk about later. If you want to know a little more about the characteristics of e-commerce, its advantages, and disadvantages, keep reading until the end.
Advantages of electronic commerce
Have you ever wondered why e-commerce is a common choice for buying and selling products? Following are the advantages of e-commerce for both consumers and those who trade goods and services over the Internet.
reach
This is one of the main advantages of e-commerce, its global reach. When creating an online business, anyone living anywhere in the world can access your business website and buy your products or services.
Availability 24/7
Companies or commercial establishments outside the network usually have certain hours, as the staff must rest. This is not the case for online commerce as these pages are available at all times. This way your business remains open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Low costs
Starting a business the traditional way, most of the time involves a big investment. Although opening a website to sell products and services also requires an investment to build a custom website, with its own domain, powerful hosting, and properly optimized, the investment is quite minimal compared to traditional businesses.
Speed and flexibility in management
To start e-commerce it only takes a few days to create an attractive website for customers. Although optimization and customization are requirements for success, they are not necessary conditions for starting a commercial activity.
Furthermore, the management of all areas of commerce is easily managed through intuitive computer programs that allow efficient management of orders, product stock, customer base, and much more.
Effective Marketing Campaigns
Once the site is created, you will find thousands of ways to promote your offers to your potential customers. Management systems, SEO professionals, and other resources, both computer, and human will allow you to carry out effective marketing campaigns on social networks and other websites and you can forget about other traditional methods of promotion, such as covering the city with your posters offers. Know more about a way of Marketing for your eCommerce, optimizing and promoting the content you offer.
Valuable information
By collecting contact details from your e-commerce visitors, you’ll get valuable information. This is about who’s interested in what you’re offering. What encourages them to buy or cancel a purchase, and much more. This information can be used to improve the content you offer on your website, the offers you propose, customer service, and, in general, all aspects of your online business. All of this with the aim of continuing to grow as a company, acquiring more customers, and consequently increasing sales.
Possibility to buy prices
For users, this is an extremely important advantage. With just a quick Google search they will find what they need and will be able to compare the offer in order to choose the one that best suits their needs and budget.
Ease of purchase process
In addition to the advantage of e-commerce in terms of the possibility of comparing prices, the customer finds other benefits that facilitate the purchase of products or services. In a traditional store, we have a very limited offer compared to e-commerce. Reviews and opinions from other customers help us to choose the best products more carefully. These are just a few examples of the benefits of e-commerce for users.
Electronic commerce allows suppliers to be closer to their customers, resulting in gains in productivity and competitiveness for companies; as a result, the consumer benefits from the improvement in service quality, resulting from greater proximity and more efficient pre-and post-sales support. With the new forms of e-commerce, consumers now have virtual stores open 24 hours a day.
Cost reduction is another very important advantage usually associated with e-commerce. The more trivial a given commercial process is, the greater the probability of its success, resulting in a significant reduction in transaction costs and, of course, in the prices charged to customers.
Disadvantages of e-commerce
Despite its many benefits, online commerce still has its limitations and that’s why other consumers still choose traditional commerce for their daily purchases. Here are some of the disadvantages of e-commerce.
Access to the product
For customers, not seeing the product is a clear disadvantage of e-commerce. The vision usually helps us to check the quality of the items and the material they are made from. If they have any defects, and much more. However, this can be somehow resolved with the opinions of other users who, depending on the number of opinions that exist in this regard, may create a small idea of the quality of the product and the reliability of the business.
Little Security
Even today, many users are reluctant to give out information about their credit card or bank details. And with good reason, as there have been many cases of fraud and scams over the Internet. Companies also run the risk of being attacked by cybercriminals, superseding their identity or collecting
customer information that they have in their databases.
Technical Failures
Failures in web hosting systems or other types of defects that e-commerce can suffer can cause serious consequences for the business. Loss of customers, reduced sales and visits, among others.
Waste of time during the purchase process
In traditional stores, you pay for the product you see and immediately take it home. It’s not the same with e-commerce, although payment is a quick transaction, shipments usually take at least a day, and if you ask for a refund, the process is even more complicated. That’s why it’s not convenient to create online commerce with perishable items like some foods. Any unforeseen events in the purchasing and shipping process can ruin the product, thus losing the investment and possibly the customer.
Conclusion
If we make a comparison between the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce, according to what we proposed, its advantages gain by the route. The issue of security and technical failures are limitations that can be easily resolved with different solutions. That’s why e-commerce has more supporters than detractors and is becoming increasingly indispensable for users all over the world. Haven’t shopped online yet? Still don’t dare to start an internet business? What are you waiting for? Start enjoying the many advantages of e-commerce, both as a customer and a merchant
