Ecommerce stands for Electronic commerce also known as Internet

commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the
internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.
Ecommerce is often used to refer to the sale of physical products online, but it
can also describe any kind of commercial transaction that is facilitated through
the internet.

The history of ecommerce begins with the first ever online sale: on the

August 11, 1994 a man sold a CD by the band Sting to his friend through his
website NetMarket, an American retail platform. This is the first example of a
consumer purchasing a product from a business through the World Wide Web
—or “ecommerce” as we commonly know it today.

Importance
ecommerce has evolved to make products easier to discover and purchase
through online retailers and marketplaces.

Independent freelancers, small businesses, and large corporations have all

benefited from ecommerce, which enables them to sell their goods and
services at a scale that was not possible with traditional offline retail.

Global retail ecommerce sales are projected to reach $27 trillion by 2020.

Types of Ecommerce Models

There are four main types of ecommerce models that can describe almost
every transaction that takes place between consumers and businesses.

1. Business to Consumer (B2C):

When a business sells a good or service to an individual consumer (e.g. You
buy a pair of shoes from an online retailer).
2. Business to Business (B2B):
When a business sells a good or service to another business (e.g. A business
sells software-as-a-service for other businesses to use)  

3. Consumer to Consumer (C2C):

When a consumer sells a good or service to another consumer (e.g. You sell
your old furniture on eBay to another consumer).

4. Consumer to Business (C2B):

When a consumer sells their own products or services to a business or
organization (e.g. An influencer offers exposure to their online audience in
exchange for a fee, or a photographer licenses their photo for a business to
use).

Examples of Ecommerce
Ecommerce can take on a variety of forms involving different transactional
relationships between businesses and consumers, as well as different objects
being exchanged as part of these transactions.

1. Retail:
The sale of a product by a business directly to a customer without any
intermediary.

2. Wholesale:
The sale of products in bulk, often to a retailer that then sells them
directly to consumers.

3. Dropshipping:
The sale of a product, which is manufactured and shipped to the
consumer by a third party.

4. Crowdfunding:
The collection of money from consumers in advance of a product being
available in order to raise the startup capital necessary to bring it to
market.

5. Subscription:
 The automatic recurring purchase of a product or service on a regular
basis until the subscriber chooses to cancel.

6. Physical products:
Any tangible good that requires inventory to be replenished and orders
to be physically shipped to customers as sales are made.

7. Digital products:
Downloadable digital goods, templates, and courses, or media that must
be purchased for consumption or licensed for use.

8. Services:
A skill or set of skills provided in exchange for compensation. The
service provider’s time can be purchased for a fee.

Role of E-Commerce

The role of e-commerce in daily life is becoming very important. E-commerce

can be used in the following ways:

1. Electronic Banking Many banks are now introducing electronic banking.

Using your computer, you can connect to the bank's computer system via the
Internet and control your daily financial

dealing from home. It reduces the staff and building of banks. Many
customers pay their bills
from their bank accounts using this facility.

2. Electronic Shopping

It has become very easy for the people to shop from home using Internet.
Different

manufacturers present their products on the Internet. People can browse the
website, place

an order and even make a payment using credit card. It has made shopping
very easy.

3. Conducting Auctions Many websites provide the facility of auction. People

participate in the auction to purchase a product. They can also pay the price
using their credit cards etc. A popular

website that provides this facility is eBay.

4. Marketing and Advertising

E-commerce plays important part to market and advertise products all over
the world. The use of popular websites is an effective way of introducing a
product to the customers.

5. Providing Customer Services

Businessmen can interact with their customers using the Internet. They can
disca different issues about their products. They can also deal with their
complaints and provide different services to them.

6. Online Travel Reservations Online travel reservation is a popular use of e-

commerce. People can reserve seats

airline flights, hotels or car using the Internet.

7. Online Trading Online trading is a process of conducting business using the

Internet. The stockbroke can do all trading activities electronically. They can
submit and receive bids using computer They can also interconnect with
computer display screens where brokers match buyers wit sellers. It reduces
cost as no paper or special building is required to conduct these activities

8. Videoconferencing Video conferencing is a type of conferencing in which

video cameras and
microphones are used for discussions. It provides an environment of normal
meeting 1

enables participants to see, hear and present material to one another as if

they are in the same

room. Video conferencing can speed up business process and procedures.

There are many advantages of e-commerce including:

Increasing reach: E-commerce allows small businesses to reach a broad range of

consumers. It allows all sellers to be a part of a global marketplace.

Open Always:

When you sell online, your business is open 24/7/365. Even though your customer support may
be sleeping, automation ensures that the rest of the sales process is always flowing and
consumers can buy on any day, at any time.

More jobs:

As these small e-commerce businesses grow, they employ more people.

Lower operation cost:

With lower operational costs—like the absence of rent, for example— small businesses
have more opportunity to spend their money on other aspects of the business and grow.

Easier and more Convenient Shopping:

One of the major advantages of e-commerce is that it allows customers to quickly find and
get what they're looking to buy without leaving their homes.

Allows Comparison Shopping:

Consumers also gain power through the experience of online shopping. They can research
and compare products and companies easily.

. Security
The biggest drawback of e-commerce is the issue of security. People fear to provide personal and
financial information, even though several improvements have been made in relation to data
encryption. Certain websites do not have capabilities to conduct authentic transactions. Fear of
providing credit card information and risk of identity limit the growth of e-commerce.

2. Lack of privacy
Many websites do not have high encryption for secure online transaction or to protect online
identity. Some websites illegally collect statistics on consumers without their permission. Lack
of privacy discourages people to use internet for conducting commercial transactions,

3. Tax issue
Sales tax is another bigger issue when the buyer and seller are situated in different locations.
Computation of sales tax poses problems when the buyer and seller are in different states.
Another factor is that physical stores will lose business if web purchases are free from tax.

4. Fear
People fear to operate in a paperless and faceless electronic world. Some of the business
organizations do not have physical existence, People do not know with whom they are
conducting commercial transactions. This aspect makes people to opt physical stores for
purchases.

Product suitability
People have to rely on electronic images to purchase products. Sometimes, when the products
are delivered, the product may not match with electronic images. Finally, it may not suit the
needs of the buyers. The lack of ‘touch and feel’ prevent people from online shopping.

6. Cultural obstacles
E-commerce attracts customers from all over the world. Habits and culture of the people differ
from nation to nation. They also pose linguistic problems. Thus, differences in culture create
obstacles to both the business and the consumers.