What is Ecommerce?

Ecommerce stands for transacting or facilitating business on the internet.

All revolves around buying and selling online, but this domain contains other activities as well. For example you can perform online shopping, electronic payments, online auctions, internet banking and online ticketing. Through Ecommerce you can exchange goods and services with no barriers of time or distance. There are different types of Ecommerce: Business to Business (B2B), business to Consumer (B2C) and Consumer to Consumer (C2C). B2B refers to electronic commerce between businesses rather than between a business and a consumer, this often deals with hundreds or even thousands of other businesses, either as customer or suppliers. This has a lot of advantages, for example ecommerce is often faster, cheaper and more convenient. This method is now preferred over the traditional methods like bartering goods and services.

Ecommerce can provide a cost-effective method for companies to set up multiple, ad-hoc links, this led to the development of electronic marketplaces. The marketplace represents an online environment where suppliers and potential customers are brought together to conduct mutually trades. If you don’t respect the basic principles of ecommerce it will be very difficult to build a successful online store, that’s why you need to implement a proper e-business plan that respects the necessary guidelines.

Before you build an online store you need a shopping card software. This is an operating system that enables consumers to purchase their goods or services and track customers. How does the virtual shopping cart differ from a real one from the supermarket? Well besides the environment of course, a virtual shopping cart can be used to fulfil your needs and desires, just find something you like, click on it and this item or service will be placed in your invisible shopping cart until you have finished browsing. Then you can check-out by clicking on the cart and complete the transaction by choosing your payment method.

When customers have trouble finding an item in the supermarket, then you know it’s time to strike and find a niche product while taking in consideration the shipping component of the transaction. The next step is choosing the means of accepting online payments. You can either obtain a merchant account and accept credit cards through an online payment gateway or use simpler methods like PayPal. Of course you need a good marketing strategy to promote your service, to attract the targeted traffic to your site.

Like every other business, ecommerce can’t get you a lot of money over night because there is a fluid market, always changing, the desires and expectations change according to the hot trend. That’s why it’s important do to a lot of research, ask questions and always take informative decisions rather the decisions relying on your gut feeling.

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