E-commerce that has been proven as a transformative force in the business landscape, encompasses a multitude of functions and features that are crucial for any business to attain success in the e-commerce sphere. The e-commerce business has provided people with the convenience, ease, and feasibility to purchase products at their comfort.
What is E-Commerce?
E-commerce, describes Electronic Commerce. This refers to operating business on an online platform over the internet.
It involves buying and selling of products and services over the internet. People nowadays are moving more towards online shopping rather than going out and shop.
According to the sources, the market growth rate of e-commerce that is being expected to reach in 2024 is 27.16%, and to have a CAGR of 16.9% from 2023 to 2030.
E-commerce has revolutionized the way businesses and retailers used to operate, now by having their store on an online platform they have a wider reach and can grow their customer base without doing any extra work.
This e-commerce space has provided the businesses as well as the entrepreneurs the opportunity to interact with customers at a global level too and make their business grow beyond the age-old boundaries.
There are some main e-commerce models that are used by businesses to do their activities –
- Business to Business (B2B)
- Business to Consumer (B2C)
- Consumer to Business (C2B)
- Direct to Consumer (D2C)
1. Low Setting Cost For Businesses
When people up a business store in a physical space it requires many things of consideration, like the space, area, setting up cost, rent of the shop, in-shop things to be set up, etc.
But when they set up a store in a digital presence, there is no need of shop space, area, etc. It requires minimal charges.
Advertising and marketing also becomes easy as online portals are automated and show up the online advertisements of sites on various social platforms. This also helps to maintain a good supply chain and relations with the customers.
With a minimum budget and a little effort, business owners can set up their online business and can have a streamline process for their business operations.
2. The 24/7 Product Availability
In traditional physical stores the products can be purchased within a fixed time duration and are not available at all time.
Meanwhile, in the case of e-commerce businesses, they enable the retailers to sell their products and services at any time of the day, be it early in the morning or late at night.
These online stores allow customers to continuously browse, select, and shop their goods at any time as per their convenience and feasibility.
This 24/7 access caters to the ease and preferences of modern consumers who expect the immediate access to products and services as their time.
With the availability of this facility, e-commerce businesses can make a significant presence in the market, as customers can now shop from anywhere at any time within just a few clicks.
This also helps businesses to provide an ultimate level of customer service and satisfaction and has revolutionized the way that businesses interact with their customers.
3. Wider Reach
Traditional physical business stores sell their products and services within a defined boundaries, whereas ecommerce space enables businesses to have a wider reach by breaking down their set boundaries and having a global reach.
By operating through online platforms, businesses can showcase their products and services to a global audience, and not limited to physical boundaries.
Ecommerce provides the option to facilitate product delivery and shipping within the cities in national space, and not only this they provide businesses with the ability to cater to international customers too.
E-commerce platforms provide businesses with the option of international shipping and logistics partnerships with the partners that facilitate smooth and efficient product delivery.
For this there are language and currency customization tools that make it possible to provide services overseas. All this can help businesses to have a name in global space and in the e-commerce industry.
4. Faster Buying Process
While shopping through an offline setup store, first what customers need to do is plan their schedule according to that or to choose their weekend even if they have to shop for a little product.
But with advancement in technology and e-commerce facilities, customers can make their purchases, be it for a small product or a big one.
They need not to rearrange their schedules or have to wait till the weekend to make their purchase, they can browse, select, and make purchases at any time. Businesses operating through e-commerce platforms allow customers to shop 24/7 and at all days of the week, from their comfort.
By offering many options, these online businesses enable the consumer to purchase a specific product without wasting time conveniently.
5. Customer Insights & Analytics
Operating through e-commerce platforms, businesses are provided with various activity metrics, analytical tools, that help them to track and gain deep insights into their customers’ buying behavior.
It can be done through tracking website visits, purchase patterns, click-through rates, from where the customer is navigating, and more, businesses can obtain valuable data about your customers’ actions and preferences.
By taking advantage of this analytics facility, it makes it possible for businesses to tailor and plan their marketing strategies and product / service offerings based on the real-time data and reports, enhancing both the shoppers’ satisfaction and engagement to their business.
With the insights into customers preferences and buying behavior, personalized recommendations & targeted promotions can be done that can eventually help your business to do more sales and have more engagement to the site.
6. Remarketing Technique
One of the major functions of e-commerce. This remarketing technique helps online retailers to boost up their selling process more and at an effective rate.
In an ecommerce store, the business owners or retailers can remarket i.e. can target or connect with the customers again who come to their platforms. Here the customers are those who browse, select the product, then add it to their cart, but at last do not complete their buying process.
Businesses can remind those customers by emailing them about those products, and with this they can stay connected with their customers even if they are not on their business site.
Apart from this, businesses can also send emails about recommendations for similar products to the products they have added to their cart.
By making use of this feature, online business owners or retailers can make an upper mark in their sales and customer retention rates scale.
7. Various Payment Options
The ecommerce space provides businesses with multiple payment options. Online payments play a major role in attaining success in the e-commerce industry.
As of today, customers have access to various online payment options like through Paytm, PhonePe, credit cards, Google Pay, etc.
These online payments may vary from business to business, as some online businesses offer only credit card or Paytm option, while other businesses are available with all payment options.
As businesses provide customers with multiple online payment options, with that customers can make faster payments and purchase their products at their convenience and payment methods.
This in return helps online businesses to grow more and attracts a good customer base.
Note: Do visit the article, Objectives & Functions of Mutual Funds.
Summing Up: Functions of E-commerce
By incorporating these functions of e-commerce, businesses or companies can unlock new opportunities and paths for success, growth, customer engagement, and can stay ahead in the competitive ecommerce marketplace.
Agreeing with you, these functions not only provides a deep understanding of business space but also offers a stable base for the operation of business.