E-Commerce

Are you interested in selling products online, creating an online store, and earning large sums of money in return? That your answer was yes then you are in the right place, because today we will introduce you to everything related to e-commerce, its concept, types and features.

What is e-commerce?

E-commerce is the process of buying and selling products or services, making financial transfers and transferring data using an electronic medium (the Internet). This process allows individuals and companies to carry out their business without any restrictions related to time or geographical barriers.

Types of e-commerce

E-commerce is divided into four main sections depending on the relationship between the customer and the merchant, which can be classified as follows:

1-WhoBusiness to consumer (B2C): It is the most widely used model in the world of e-commerce, as it is based on conducting transactions between the company and the consumer. For example: When a buyer purchases a phone through an online store, this is a transaction between the company and the consumer.

2-WhoCompany to Company (B2B): It depends on buying and selling between companies, and the transactions are often in the form of raw materials, equipment, or wholesale goods. For example: transactions that occur between a manufacturer and a wholesaler.

3-Whoconsumer to consumer (C2C): It is very similar to the first model, but the transactions are between consumers and each other. Most major online stores now offer the ability to do this. Anyone can sign up for a seller account and display the products they want to sell on their online store account.

4-Whoconsumer to business (C2B): It is one of the traditional models in which a consumer usually provides a service to a company. For example: When your company purchases an electronic logo design service from the Khamsat website, then the corresponding template is (C2B).

Advantages of electronic commerce

1-Low Material cost

One of the most important advantages and benefits of e-commerce is the low start-up costs. Traditional stores require thousands of dollars to rent a display space, in addition to many other initial costs such as front facade, store design, purchasing merchandise inventory, vending equipment, etc.

Without also forgetting that the store owner will sooner or later have to employ a number of individuals to ensure the workflow, especially if the store has several branches in multiple locations.

In e-commerce, you will not need any of this, as you do not have to rent any real website to start your selling business. Also, designing a website will undoubtedly be less expensive than designing a real store and you will not need any employees to manage your store, as you can do that Alone while sitting on your comfortable sofa in your home!

2-Continuous input around the clock

Another advantage of e-commerce is that e-stores remain open around the clock! 

With your store's ads on Facebook or Google, you can attract new customers after midnight or after four in the morning! And from anywhere in the world, unlike traditional stores, whose working hours are usually limited.

By keeping the online store open around the clock, you will undoubtedly attract those who cannot go to traditional stores during their working hours or who do not prefer traditional shopping and waste a lot of time searching for the product they want.

3-global sales

Through e-commerce, you will overcome geographical barriers and take your business to the global level. You may find your customers in the other part of the globe, or in neighboring countries, and you will be able to provide your services to them with ease, without the need to be with them in the same country or city.

4-Easy to display best-selling products

This feature allows online store owners to display their goods to customers. While traditional merchants may have to spend a lot of effort and money designing the way goods are displayed in order to attract customers, the customer in the online store can find the best-selling products with ease.

Why would you want your customers to find these particular products?

Simply because its quality is proven, other customers have purchased and tried it, expressed their satisfaction and admiration for it, and you can easily display these particular products to your audience through advertising messages via email or through advertisements on Facebook or Google!

5-A great place for your introverted clients

Some introverts detest the idea of visiting a traditional store and engaging in discussions with employees there with the goal of purchasing a particular product, whether these discussions are inquiries about the nature of the product, negotiations about its price, or even answering sellers' questions about exactly what they want.

Such people will be happy with the online shopping experience, as it does not involve a lot of interaction with others.

If a customer wants to communicate with the store owner, all he has to do is press the "Instant Chat" button, communicate via email, or message the store’s official page on Facebook, to get all the answers he is looking for!

Disadvantages of electronic commerce

With every positive or advantage of e-commerce, there are undoubtedly corresponding negatives or weaknesses. In the end, we must be realistic, as nothing is perfect.

1-Customers cannot purchase products in the event of a website failure

One of the worst negatives of e-commerce is that no one will be able to buy your products if your store’s website malfunctions or collapses.

For this reason, it is very important that your site is hosted via a suitable e-commerce platform. For example, if you pay a minimum hosting fee on one of the platforms specialized in this, and there is a jump in the number of visitors to your store as a result of an advertising campaign or television advertisement, your site will most likely collapse due to the large number of visitors, which may cause you a significant financial loss.

2-Highly competitive field

Fighting for customers is one of the worst disadvantages of e-commerce and the best areas of this business are often highly competitive, attracting most entrepreneurs to it.

This is not all. The more competitive a particular field becomes, the higher the cost of advertising related to that field and the more difficult it becomes to make a profit.

To overcome this problem, you have two solutions: either by following a marketing strategy different from that followed by your competitors, or by resorting to less expensive methods of advertising and advertising your products, such as attracting your customers to read product blogs and publications, then converting them to the product display page so that they can buy from it, instead of Directing them to it directly.

3-The process of shipping products and delivering them to customers may take a lot of time

E-commerce customers consider shipping times and delivering products to them to be among the worst disadvantages of this type of trade. When someone shops in a traditional store, he can buy the product and receive it immediately. However, in the case of electronic shopping, he must wait a minimum of two weeks to obtain the products.

You now have a complete idea about the concept of e-commerce and its types, in addition to its pros and cons, and perhaps it is time to start thinking about opening your first online store!