What are the most important advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce? What are the types? E-commerce has spread significantly in the past years, following the huge technological development witnessed and affected by the world to create and manage all matters online, so through the website of capital makers we will explain all the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce as well as the main types of trade through the following paragraphs.
Advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce
E-commerce is nowadays fundamental and broader than traditional trade, and like all industries it contains both positive and negative things.
E-commerce and online marketing play a big role in increasing the profits of entrepreneurs, and there are also some large companies that rely on e-commerce and online marketing. E-commerce today and in the future is more important than regular trade on the ground and more profitable, and one of the easiest ways to do shopping for buyers.
There are many other advantages in e-commerce for the seller and buyer, and in the following paragraphs will explain the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce.
1- No need for large capital
One of the most important advantages of e-commerce is that it doesn’t need as much capital as regular trade, which needs to have a private place to trade, as well as the costs of preparing and finishing the place to start and also the trader needs to hire a number of employees and set a special salary for them.
E-commerce does not need as much cost as ordinary trade, so a person does not need to start a project but to create a private website that will actually not cost the project owner the same great costs of owning a shop in ordinary trade.
In addition, the project owner does not need to hire a number of employees, but is able to trade and develop the project on his own while sitting comfortably at home.
2- Attract customers 24 hours a day
This is one of the most important features of e-commerce, which is the continuity of your website or e-store to open 24 hours a day, and you are not limited to a time to receive customers like normal commerce.
Through your online store, customers can order and enquire at any time, so you can earn throughout the day, attract more customers and increase sales.
The e-store is also a preferred option for people who don’t have time to go to regular stores on duty, or who don’t want to go and spend a lot of time looking for the product they want during the shopping process.
3-Achieving significant sales
Through e-commerce you will be able to create an activity website and statistical research has shown that 88% of people search first before making a purchase, which increases the chance that your e-store will appear in the search results.
This will cause you to become more visible and increase customers from different countries, so you will be able to generate high sales and earn the trust of many customers in different countries, as e-commerce is not just where you are.
4-Ease of product presentation
E-commerce has a very important advantage in enabling e-entrepreneurs to showcase best-selling products to attract more customers.
This is by delighting, liking, and accommodating customers with a particular product and then the store owner will easily display these reviews through advertising emails, Facebook ads, or Google ads.
Unlike traditional shopkeepers, it takes a lot of effort and time to get to the best way to design a product presentation to attract customers.
5- Best for introverted customers
Introverts who don’t want to go and come into contact with others also use e-stores, where they avoid going to regular stores to not have a discussion with the store owner about product inquiries, or have some price negotiations.
E-commerce is therefore the key to shopping for these people, and if someone wants to speak with the store owner, the conversation about the store is communicated.
Or contact via email, or via the store’s official Facebook page, so the customer can find out the answer to all product inquiries.
6-Ease of access to data
Through e-commerce, the store owner is able to obtain all customer data through email or address, by which the owner is able to identify the most visited categories of the store and be able to develop the store and provide the best services to attract customers and meet their needs.
Contrary to normal trade, in case the shop owner is unable to take some data from customers to provide the best possible service.
Disadvantages of e-commerce
Everywhere there are advantages and disadvantages, there is no place without advantages or disadvantages. This is how e-commerce has many advantages, it also has many disadvantages. We mentioned the most important advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce in the previous paragraph and continue in the next paragraph.
1- Technical defects of e-commerce
One of the most important disadvantages of e-commerce is that some technical failures occur on site during the customers purchase process, and customers will not be able to make the purchase again, but the entire store will be disabled.
Sometimes people host on an e-commerce platform that fits in with what they deliver, but this exposes the site to collapse and significant loss due to an increase in the number of visitors on the site causing the site to collapse and strain.
2- Not trying the products
This is one of the biggest problems facing many online shopkeepers, which is that customers do not experience the product, causing concern and confusion for customers before they make a purchase.
But some new technologies are beginning to solve this problem, allowing customers to experience the product before making a purchase through VR and AR.
3- Increase competition between e-stores
After the world’s technological development over the past years, many people have started to e-commerce, and the number of traders has increased, causing increased competition in the industry, which has led to higher e-commerce advertising, making it more difficult to make a profit.
In addition, increasing competition is a risk of e-commerce, and to overcome this issue, a completely different professional marketing approach must be used to attract customers, or by attracting customers to read some posts and then move them to product demonstration posts.
4- Lack of customer patience
In some companies, customer service is not always available, or customer service may be delayed in responding to customers for some time and this may be due to a lot of queries and the inability of customer service to respond to all of them at the same time.
Or the customer may have submitted some queries at night and customer service is not available at this time, which irritates some customers, but many major companies are beginning to resolve this issue, namely assigning customer service for night and morning shifts until customers are answered at all times.
5.Delay of product shipments
Many customers are angry at the delay in getting the desired products, as the customer has to wait at least two weeks, unlike traditional stores where the customer can buy and get the product at the same time.
But some big companies are starting to solve the problem, like Amazon, which provided product shipping and customer access on the same day as the order, but it was high-cost until the company shuts down and only became available to premium customers.
Types of e-commerce
Having mentioned all the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce in the preceding paragraphs, through the following lines we will explain the types of e-commerce, where many people believe that e-commerce is limited to the supplier and the customer.
Although it is true, trade contains many other types and is not limited to the supplier and customer, and through the following lines we will explain the most important types of e-commerce.
1- E-commerce between companies
E-commerce between companies is all the electronic transactions of other goods, products or services but between companies, and there are some wholesalers of ordinary trade who get the goods through this type of trade.
2- E-commerce from companies to consumers
This type of business-to-consumer trade is one of the easiest and most dynamic types of e-commerce, but it does not work continuously between an individual and a company, but e-commerce relationships between companies and consumer individuals have evolved.
There are also many online and virtual stores that display and sell various products and consumer goods, such as electronic devices, clothing, and shoes.
3- E-commerce among consumers
In this type of trade, business transactions occur through a third party that has an electronic business platform and sells goods and products to consumers, and such business transactions occur between individuals and consumers.
4- Consumer to Company E-Commerce
These transactions are done through an individual consumer offering available products or skills to companies that want such services or products offered by the individual.
Some young graphic designers present their designs on websites with some offers to design the logo of large companies.
The company sees such offers through websites, chooses the most appropriate design, buys it, and e-commerce is conducted from consumer to company.
5- E-commerce from companies to management
Business transactions are conducted from companies to management online through the provision of some services from governmental administrative institutions, various companies, and from the most prominent services provided electronically by companies to the administration of tax services, legal records, or social security services.
The government has developed electronic transactions to offer some online transactions, and has taken care of this after increasing interest in significant investments in the country.
6- Consumer to Administration E-Commerce
This type of e-commerce is limited to all electronic transactions between consumer individuals and government departments, the most prominent of which have been provided by government departments in recent years.
Education: Methods of remote learning that have spread especially during the coronavirus pandemic include disseminating information and completing some educational papers online.
Taxes: The government has made it possible to file tax returns and payments online.
Social security: Social security government departments publish all information related to the social security industry online, as well as the availability of an online payment service.
Health Sector: Such as booking medical exams, posting all information through the Ministry of Health’s page to educate individuals on how to prevent disease, as well as the health care service.
Although e-commerce has many advantages, it has some disadvantages that are a threatening risk of project collapse, e-commerce remains the future of business dealings.
