e-commerce forum: advantages and disadvantages
E-commerce can be defined as, “ICT mediated transactions between an organization and its customers, suppliers and employees. It simply means that transactions between a firm and its customers and suppliers are transmitted over computer networks.”(Simon Fraser). Ecommerce has many advantages as well as disadvantages. I will attempt to elaborate on some of those advantages and disadvantages from both the buyer and seller point of view.
I will begin from the sellers’ perspective. There are many advantages of ecommerce to being a seller. Firstly as a seller or business, you can operate twenty four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week. There is no limit to when you can open and close as opposed to having a physical store which would typically open eight to ten (8-10) hours a day. This point then extends over to the next, where as it eliminated the need for having an actual physical location. This saves money, lowers operation costs and makes it easier to set up and start. Eliminating an actual physical store and going online not only gives you unlimited opening hours but an unlimited geographical outreach to potential and existing customers. There also exist many disadvantages to sellers. Sellers will lose that personal touch and close relationships with customers even though they recently started relying on social media networks such as facebook and twitter to get feedback and responses from customers. I believe it’s a step up and helps but isn’t the same as a face to face conversation and interaction. Another disadvantage is that if some mechanical failure or network failure occurs, the entire business process becomes interrupted; therefore businesses need to ensure everything is properly implemented.
As a consumer, there also exist many advantages and disadvantages. To begin I would explain some advantages. Customers have a wide range of choices to select from and they have the ultimate form of convenience. They can shop wherever and whenever they want.
I will begin from the sellers’ perspective. There are many advantages of ecommerce to being a seller. Firstly as a seller or business, you can operate twenty four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week. There is no limit to when you can open and close as opposed to having a physical store which would typically open eight to ten (8-10) hours a day. This point then extends over to the next, where as it eliminated the need for having an actual physical location. This saves money, lowers operation costs and makes it easier to set up and start. Eliminating an actual physical store and going online not only gives you unlimited opening hours but an unlimited geographical outreach to potential and existing customers. There also exist many disadvantages to sellers. Sellers will lose that personal touch and close relationships with customers even though they recently started relying on social media networks such as facebook and twitter to get feedback and responses from customers. I believe it’s a step up and helps but isn’t the same as a face to face conversation and interaction. Another disadvantage is that if some mechanical failure or network failure occurs, the entire business process becomes interrupted; therefore businesses need to ensure everything is properly implemented.
As a consumer, there also exist many advantages and disadvantages. To begin I would explain some advantages. Customers have a wide range of choices to select from and they have the ultimate form of convenience. They can shop wherever and whenever they want.
References: -Fraser,S. “MGMT 2007 – Introduction to eCommerce :Module 2 ,Definitions and Origins of Electronic Commerce”(Powerpoint Slides). Presented at lecture. -“Advantages and Disadvantages of ecommerce.” Retrieved September 24th ,2013. http://www.esalestrack.com/blog/2008/09/advantages-and-disadvantages-of.html