E-COMMERCE

E-commerce (also written as e-Commerce, eCommerce or

similar variants), short for electronic commerce, is trading in
products or services using computer networks, such as
the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such
as mobile commerce,electronic funds transfer, supply chain
management, Internet marketing, online transaction
processing, electronic data interchange(EDI), inventory
management systems, and automated data collection systems.
Modern electronic commerce typically uses theWorld Wide
Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle, although it
may also use other technologies such as e-mail.
E-commerce businesses may employ some or all of the following:

Online shopping web sites for retail sales direct to

consumers

Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which

process third-party business-to-consumer or consumer-toconsumer sales

Business-to-business buying and selling

Gathering and using demographic data through web

contacts and social media

Business-to-business electronic data interchange

Marketing to prospective and established customers by email or fax (for example, with newsletters)

Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services

BUSINESS APPLICATIONS OF E-COMMERCE

Some common applications related to electronic commerce are:

Document automation in supply chain and logistics

Domestic and international payment systems

Enterprise content management

Group buying

Print on demand

Automated online assistant

Newsgroups

Online shopping and order tracking

Online banking

Online office suites

Shopping cart software

Teleconferencing

Electronic tickets

Social networking

Instant messaging

Pretail

Digital Wallet

GLOBAL TRENDS OF E-COMMERCE

In 2010, the United Kingdom had the biggest e-commerce market
in the world when measured by the amount spent per capita.
[42]
The Czech Republic is the European country where
ecommerce delivers the biggest contribution to the enterprises
total revenue. Almost a quarter (24%) of the countrys total
turnover is generated via the online channel.
Among emerging economies, China's e-commerce presence
continues to expand every year. With 384 million internet users,
China's online shopping sales rose to $36.6 billion in 2009 and
one of the reasons behind the huge growth has been the
improved trust level for shoppers. The Chinese retailers have
been able to help consumers feel more comfortable shopping
online.[44] China's cross-border e-commerce is also growing

rapidly. E-commerce transactions between China and other

countries increased 32% to 2.3 trillion yuan ($375.8 billion) in
2012 and accounted for 9.6% of China's total international
trade [45] In 2013, Alibaba had an e-commerce market share of
80% in China.[46]
Other BRIC countries are witnessing the accelerated growth of
eCommerce as well. Brazil's eCommerce is growing quickly with
retail eCommerce sales expected to grow at a healthy doubledigit pace through 2014. By 2016, eMarketer expects retail
ecommerce sales in Brazil to reach $17.3 billion.[47] India has an
internet user base of about 243.2 million as of January 2014.
Despite being third largest userbase in world, the penetration of
Internet is low compared to markets like the United States, United
Kingdom or France but is growing at a much faster rate, adding
around 6 million new entrants every month.

IMPACT ON MARKETS AND RETAILERS

Economists have theorized that e-commerce ought to lead to
intensified price competition, as it increases consumers' ability to
gather information about products and prices. Research by four
economists at the University of Chicago has found that the growth
of online shopping has also affected industry structure in two
areas that have seen significant growth in ecommerce, bookshops and travel agencies. Generally, larger
firms are able to use economies of scale and offer lower prices.
The lone exception to this pattern has been the very smallest
category of bookseller, shops with between one and four
employees, which appear to have withstood the trend.
[58]
Depending on the category, e-commerce may shift the

switching costsprocedural, relational, and financial

experienced by customers.[59]
Individual or business involved in e-commerce whether buyers or
sellers rely on Internet-based technology in order to accomplish
their transactions. E-commerce is recognized for its ability to allow
business to communicate and to form transaction anytime and
anyplace. Whether an individual is in the US or overseas,
business can be conducted through the internet. The power of ecommerce allows geophysical barriers to disappear, making all
consumers and businesses on earth potential customers and
suppliers. Thus, switching barriers and switching costs my shift.
[59]
eBay is a good example of e-commerce business individuals
and businesses are able to post their items and sell them around
the Globe.[60]
In e-commerce activities, supply chain and logistics are two most
crucial factors need to be considered.

SOCIAL IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE

Along with the e-commerce and its unique charm that has
appeared gradually, virtual enterprise, virtual bank, network
marketing, online shopping, payment and advertising, such this
new vocabulary which is unheard-of and now has become as
familiar to people. This reflects that the e-commerce has huge
impact on the economy and society from the other side.[67] For
instance, B2B is a rapidly growing business in the world that leads
to lower cost and then improves the economic efficiency and also
bring along the growth of employment.[68]

To understand how the e-commerce has affected the society and

economy, this article will mention three issues below:
1. The e-commerce has changed the relative importance of time,
but as the pillars of indicator of the countrys economic state that
the importance of time should not be ignored.
2. The e-commerce offers the consumer or enterprise various
information they need, making information into total transparency,
will force enterprise no longer is able to use the mode of space or
advertisement to raise their competitive edge.[69] Moreover, in
theory, perfect competition between the consumer sovereignty
and industry will maximize social welfare.[70]
3. In fact, during the economic activity in the past, large enterprise
frequently has advantage of information resource, and thus at the
expense of consumers. Nowadays, the transparent and real-time
information protects the rights of consumers, because the
consumers can use internet to pick out the portfolio to the benefit
of themselves. The competitiveness of enterprises will be much
more obvious.

Five e-commerce
marketing trends

that will dominate

2015
1.

Content marketing will gain

prominence: The focus is going to be on original and
informative content rather than the generic kind. As
Google and other search engines throw more weight
around original and unique content and rank them
higher in search results, businesses will need to revisit
their content strategy. Customers are also starting to
demand a greater level of detail while purchasing and,
along with great navigation and ease of paying, will
prefer brands that give them the knowledge of the
product that they seek to acquire.

2.

SEO and social signaling will start

merging: Search engines like Google will continue
their push to provide the most relevant content to the
consumer. This is within their interest as well as it
impacts online ad rates. For the marketer, this will

mean paying very close attention to having great

content that is relevant and is shared
3.

Social media marketing will diversify: For

now, a majority of e-commerce brands use Facebook
to drive a bulk of their potential customers. With
changes in how Facebook is going to treat newsfeed
pushes, marketers will have to start investing more
time in other platforms while continuing to invest
money in Facebook itself, to continue driving traffic
that they were seeing before the changes. This pay
for exposure trend is likely to see a higher adoption
by other social media platforms like Twitter,
Instagram, Pinterest etc., as they start monetising
their networks. For brands, this means that they wont
be able to depend on just one/limited channel for
traffic and will have to diversify their networks.

4.

Mobile marketing will increase: As more and

more people consume information on the go, mobile
moments or mobile marketing will get bigger.
Seamless integration that will allow customers to click
on an ad on the mobile and complete a transaction
without any issues will usher in the next level of
instant gratification. We have also seen some of the

larger e-commerce players starting official channels

on mobile chat platforms, like Line and WeChat, to
share promotions and content, and this is expected to
grow as well.

5.

Remarketing ads will grow: It seems like

everyone has jumped on the remarketing bandwagon
and this space is going to see an even higher uptake
this year. Visit a product on a website and its going to
follow you everywhere. This ability of the product and
the brand to keep itself right in front of the customer
is very effective. With Facebook bringing its Atlas
advertising platform into play, this is only going to
become much more effective, as it would enable more
accurate cross-device advertising and tracking
opportunity for advertisers. Given Facebooks mobile
reach and active user base, this will also lead to an
increase in mobile conversions.