What are the effects of the growth of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar businesses?

The e-commerce sector in Turkey is one of the rapidly growing sectors, in fact, this situation is the
same for the whole world. The reasons for this include people gaining the habit of shopping online, as
well as e-commerce site businesses doing their jobs in a better way with advanced tools.

There are many elements that contribute to the growth and development of e-commerce. The main
factors can be listed as population size, internet usage rate, developing and increasing alternative
payment systems, and advanced logistics support systems (Coşkun, 2005). Along with all this, the size
of our young population allows us to adapt to new technologies more easily and quickly, so e-
commerce and other information technologies are developing rapidly. One of the reasons why it is so
preferred compared to other traditional types of shopping is the pandemic. Online-shopping was also
used before the pandemic, however after the pandemic of 2019, it became more prevalent and people
develop a habit of using it because it is more practical than traditional shopping types, there is no waste
of time, and there is no possibility of contracting epidemic diseases (Kılınç, Akın, 2021). This being the
case, people started to express all their needs through e-commerce sites, and when e-commerce is
preferred instead of traditional shopping methods, going to the mall or going to the market, it naturally
affects these tradesmen badly. Although some of the electronic commercial transactions can be carried
out by traditional means, the advantages offered by technology led to the preference of electronic
commerce causes.

Electronic commerce offers advantages for consumers as well as producers. Thanks to electronic
commerce, manufacturers enjoy some valuable benefits including “cost and time savings, ability to
market on a larger scale and reduction in marketing processes, minimizing errors in commercial
documents and reducing paperwork, increase in geographical coverage, decrease in general operating
costs, decrease in communication costs, more effective promotion with less cost, decrease in purchasing
costs, more effective use of marketing budgets, increased product options, etc.” (Coşkun, 2005). This
causes other traditional shopping methods to be preferred less because it provides so much convenience
to both producers and consumers. The habit of online shopping makes us lazy and we do not buy from
outside because we can buy from the internet. This is the biggest advantage of the e-commerce habit to
businesses.

When it comes to e-commerce, it is true that it has many positive aspects, but there are also many
disadvantages: inability to use persuasion methods provided by face-to-face sales opportunities,
financial limits, customers not having the opportunity to feel and touch the product, security and
privacy concerns, transparency towards competitors, unrecognizable electronic devices. The problem of
distrust in sellers, the lack of defined criteria for measuring some benefits, the absence of universally
accepted quality, safety and reliability standards, and the cargo waiting time for the consumer (Coşkun,
2005). And I think the biggest negative aspect is that in e-commerce, not every site is always reliable,
there is fraud, fraud, the desired product and the product delivered are very different, there are many e-
commerce people and sites, but unfortunately, not all of them may be as safe as the well-known e-
commerce sites, fraudsters are also very comfortable. It seems like a reliable site on the internet and can
access all kinds of information about a person. This is actually the most important feature that
distinguishes the traditional shopping method from e-commerce. I will give an example from my father.
My father does not want to shop on e-commerce websites as much as possible, he is uncomfortable
with the easy access to his identity information and card information. He says that it is not reliable and
he does not give up traditional methods unless he has to. When he sees the e-commerce fraud news in
the news and on the internet, he agrees. My father also has a traditional tradesman parquet shop and
started to sell and promote through e-commerce, which is today's fashion. No matter how much they do
not want to choose it, the growth of e-commerce allows traditional tradesmen to sell through e-
commerce in this way. There is competition in e-commerce, as in every field.
As a result, the growth of e-commerce has led to innovations that have had many positive and negative
effects on traditional businesses. While it was a good situation for some people and businesses, for
some businesses and people it was outweighed by its negative aspects and it was not a good situation. It
must be admitted that there is a reality called e-commerce and it is gradually spreading to every aspect
of life and every business.

References

COŞKUN, A. N. (2005). Elektronik Ticarette Vergilendirme Sorunları ve Uluslar Arası Düzeyde

Çözüm Arayışlarının Türkiye Açısından Değerlendirilmesi. Çukurova Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler
Enstitüsü Dergisi, 14(1), 153-170.

KILINC, B., & AKIN, F. Pandeminin Türkiye’de E-Ticaret Sektörüne Etkileri. Erzincan Üniversitesi
Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 14 (20. Bölge Bilimi ve Planlama Kongresi Özel Sayısı), 87-97.
https://doi.org/10.46790/erzisosbil.956829

Aybüke Atalay
Dr. Hatice Bay
ELL 107 Advanced English Writing Skills
16.01.2024