Commerce is an integral part of human society. The world cannot function without the exchange of goods. Earlier, there was only one type of trade, which is the conventional method of going in search of a brick and mortar store and shop for the items you need. It would be good enough if you find the desired product, but if it is not the case you would again want to go in search of another physical store, maybe that which is located in another part of the city, then find your item to purchase it. Just think about how much of your precious time, energy, money and resources you would be spending to buy a single thing. It becomes, even more, worse when the weather is not pleasant.
But, thanks to e-commerce! It has made life very simple and easy. Because of this revolutionary step in the business world, you need not go through so much chaos and miss the fun element in shopping.
People now prefer comfort and ease more than anything else. They would like to shop from the comfort of their homes- by just lying on a bed or couch, make a few clicks on their mobile screens and wait for the item to be delivered to their doorsteps. This method has become the most widely used form of business, so if you are an entrepreneur, grab this opportunity to boost and enlarge your business.
What Is The Meaning Of An E-commerce Website?
E-commerce websites are web pages that allow you to start selling goods electronically. It may also be useful in selling digital products and services. Nevertheless, you should have a unique business plan and use distinctive marketing tools to make your business flourish.
What Is The Origin Of E-commerce?
There was nothing called as e-commerce until 1969, as only in that year ‘CompuServe’, the first American company for e-commerce was founded. And then in 1972, students from Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and MIT made their first online transaction through ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) for selling cannabis.
Later, in 1979 a person named Michael Aldrich came up with an idea of electronic shopping, where you need not go to a brick and mortar store to buy goods. In the initial stages, he started this business by using television and telephone.
Then in 1982, the first e-commerce platform was launched by Boston Computer Exchange. And in 1990 the ‘World Wide Web’, the very first web browser originated. And so everyone who had access to a computer and the internet was able to shop online.
However, this method of trade was not a big success, as computers were accessible only to scientists and government officials. It was not available or affordable for ordinary people.
In time, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates made computers readily available and affordable for the general public. That is when e-commerce started to flourish. Yet there was another setback in e-commerce, payments had to be made through cheques. Although in 2008, there came a boom, when PayPal introduced a payment gateway for online transactions. All these made customer’s online shopping experience very smooth.
Scope of E-commerce Websites
Consequently, in 2014, in the total industrial growth, 3.5 per cent of the increase came through e-commerce. In 2020 it is expected that 4.68 trillion users will buy products through e-commerce. People in the 18 -34 age group are estimated to be highly engaged shoppers. Moreover, the highest percentage of buyers among them are women. Hence, the total amount of money spent on e-commerce is an average of 3.5 trillion dollars. To put it in perspective: The world population is 7.6 billion and the internet has 4.1 billion users. You can imagine how flourishing this kind of trade is!
Features Of E-Commerce Websites
1.Ubiquity
E-commerce trading is available anywhere at any time. It is not limited to any geographic location. It means that you can keep your online business running around the clock, from whichever place you prefer. You can either work from home or your office space or anywhere else in the world. And it also means that products are available for buyers as well, for 24 hours a day, for all seven days of the week. Online store builders will see to it that your site is designed as such.
2.Global reach
Yes, e-com businesses have a global reach, so you are not limited to selling products that are found only in your town. You can start selling online products to different cities and in fact, to other countries.
3.Universal standard
The technical media standards followed are globally the same. It gives ease of access.
4.Interactivity
E-commerce allows for the interaction of consumers with the sellers so that they can get their queries answered about the products they are planning to buy, or complain and resolve the malfunction of goods they have already purchased. E-commerce websites facilitate this through emails, social media comments and other discussion forums.
5.Information Density
Consumers get much information about the goods or services they are about to buy. And the cost of processing all this information is very cheap in this type of retail sales.
- Customisation
In e-commerce, customising your products according to the needs and likes of the Consumer is very easy. This feature attracts many customers.
7.Easy payments
E-commerce has also made payments simple, easy and quick. It has made cashless transactions simpler. If a consumer adds your product to their shopping cart, they can quickly check out by just entering their credit or debit card details and completing their payment. It is just a few clicks away.
Aid Of An E-commerce Platform
You can build a good e-com website with the help of an e-commerce website builder, which would provide exciting features like abandoned cart recovery, order customisation and many more. You can try it out initially in their free trial plans.
Conclusion
Considering all these facts, it could e said that eCommerce is the ‘new normal’ now, so if you are a budding entrepreneur or someone with a small business and planning to enlarge it, creating an e-commerce website can help you in ways that you wouldn’t have imagined.