E-commerce or the E in e-commerce means electronic, and the selling and buying of services and goods on the internet are known as e-commerce. E-commerce means the disposal of physical goods online, but the commercial transaction through the internet is also e-commerce. Products are made easier to find and purchase in e-commerce. Many have profited through e-commerce. It is estimated that about $27 trillion global sales have been made through e-commerce BY 2020. There are many advantages, and disadvantages related to it that digital marketing services can point out for you. Let’s take a look!
Pro
Saves time
E-commerce helps speeds up the buying process. A customer or consumer saves a lot of time when he’s shopping online, and the time it takes to physically search for the product. The cost of the product also differs from the online shopping there are discounts, and you can easily spot your products and buy them instantly there are many people who always buy their products online hence e-commerce is very successful.
Convenient
Have you notice that when you visit a store, and you have a product in mind, most of the local stores might not have the product. You might have to travel far to search for the product of your liking it is inconvenient, but the online search is perfect, you type the name of the product, and it will appear with the rate and most often than not the price online is better than prices bought from any store. Hence e-commerce is convenient, and you can search for any product, and you can buy it online.
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Employee fees saved
When you have a store, you’re bound to have helpers, and they would charge a certain amount. However with e-commerce, the transactions are free, and there is no need for an employee hence you save your money.
Target existing customer
When a customer buys online, he /she will be bound to give their email address and phone number. Hence it gets easier to contact the customer through bulk email campaigns or bulk SMS service, and it is easier for them to shop with you online again.. Hence e-commerce is a convenient way to built customer relationships.
Reviews help customer
The online portal has a free review section, and anyone who has an opinion can comment on the review section. So new customer or the old ones can view the reviews of the products and choose accordingly for themselves. The review also gives value to your online businesses and helps build trust with your customers.
Flexibility
Another great feature of shopping online is that your online store is opened 24/7 and the customer who has no time to visit the stores during the day time has an opportunity to shop for the product online at any time they are free.
Cons
Inability to see products
No matter how tempting online shopping is, it has a drawback. When it comes to buying products we can’t be 100% sure to buy it until we’ve seen it, smell it, touch it and this is missing on online products. We can’t touch them or feel them, and this creates insecurity to us on whether the products are 100% genuine or not.
Late deliveries
Another factor that causes insecurity is when the products will arrive? Usually, the products don’t get delivered on time, and this creates a disparity between the online stores and the customers.
Personal information might get leaked
When we buy online all our personal details will be questioned only until we’ve filled our address, email address, bank detail then only will they confirm to deliver our product this can make us insecure because all our personal information might get leaked and then there could be so many problems that arise.
No free samples
All of us when we visit a store we usually can use testers to see how the products are mainly in cosmetics. When we want to buy cosmetics be it lipstick or eyeliner or foundation the sales girl will give you a tester, and you can apply these products on your face and see if they suit or not but this is easily missing on the online store you can’t receive samples or tester, therefore, this is a big drawback.
Crashed site
This can happen at any time the site could crash logging your customer out and with the crash of the website ts possible the customer might log in somewhere else and buy their products elsewhere
Competition
There is fierce competition on the internet, with the increment in online markets there are so many stores to choose from, and it is unlikely you’ll find just one store that caters to your needs. Since there is fierce competition, it becomes so difficult for consumers or customers to choose the products online. Not one or two, but there are around a hundred if not a thousand stores and it is a tough call for the customer.
Briefly
Therefore e-commerce is a great medium as it has so many advantages, but there are many drawbacks too. The new thing is online shopping, and the old has been replaced with the new. Some so many customers would like to shop online and build a customer –client relationship with the online stores. The online store helps get the customer what they’re looking for at a cheaper rate too. So to say that online shopping is the new thing is fair. People trust their clients, and they usually buy products from the same store. E-commerce helps the customer shop online, and they also build trust and relationship with the customers.
Finally
Finally, it is to be mentioned that with the increase in the online store, the bigger the competition is, and this helps in confusing the customer. Most of the customer might shop online and buy the products at a cheaper rate, but not all customer is the same. Some might want to experience the products first hand like touching the product, smelling it, see it. These kinds of customers don’t shop online but prefer local stores, therefore, e-commerce is a success, but it has a lot of drawbacks too.
