E-Commerce

E-commerce is when you buy or sell things online. E-commerce services include online banking, shopping, and auctions. Recently, this has grown more popular due to the ease and convenience of being able to do it all on the internet.

            There are many advantages of e-commerce, such as the variety of products available, the convenience, and often, the price of a product on-line is cheaper than in-store.

           

Product Variety

A big attraction to shopping online is the wider range of products available, as shops are able to display a lot more products on a web page than in a store. This also means that products are available in more sizes and colours etc. For example, if you were in a shop, and saw a dress that you liked but they didn’t have it in your size, it is more than likely to be in your size on the shops website.

            It is also a lot easier to browse through different products online, as you can just enter into a search bar exactly what you are looking for, and the website will filter out everything else, and leave you with the relevant products.

Recommendations

Websites are also able to recommend items to you that it thinks you will like, based on your past search history and purchases. The website knows this information through the use of cookies, which documents what you look at and search for while on their website. This means that you can find products that you didn’t know were on the website based on the previous things you have bought or searched for.

Cheaper online price

Quite often, products will have a cheaper online price compared to the in-store price. This is because it is cheaper to run and maintain a website than a shop, as you need fewer staff, and do not have to pay rent for an extra building.

           

Convenience

A huge advantage of shopping online is the convenience of it. Many websites now have an app for your mobile or tablet device, meaning that it is now even easier to shop online, wherever you are, provided you have internet access. You can even do your grocery shopping online, and have it delivered later that day.

This is the Tesco website, which shows how you can create an account with them, to make shopping online faster and easier, meaning you can do a whole food shop without even leaving the house. This is very helpful if someone is disabled or unable to leave the house for whatever reason, as they can then get their shopping delivered straight to their door.

 This is the Tesco app, which allows you to shop online, on your phone. It also has special features, such as being able to scan a barcode of something that isn’t even in-store, and adding it to your shopping list, so that it automatically gets added to your online ‘basket’ and delivered to you. This all makes the shopping experience even faster and more convenient, therefore persuading more people to shop online.

           

However, even though there are many advantages of shopping online, there are also a few limitations, such as the issue of returning items, the possibility of loss or damage, and the fact that you don’t actually know what the product is like exactly.

Returns

When shopping online, there will always be an example of the company’s return policy, telling you whether or not you can return certain items.

This is Tesco’s returns policy, which tells customers what they should do in the event that they want to return an item(s).  It explains that sometimes, you are not able to return certain items, as they can sometimes be ‘perishable’, meaning that the food items may go out of date if they go through the process of being returned and refunded. Similarly, with clothing websites, you never know for sure what the actual product is going to be like compared to the picture that is on the website. Personally, it has happened to me many times where I’ve ordered something from a clothing website, then it has turned out to look nothing like the picture on the website, and it is quite a lengthy process to send it back.

Postage and Packaging

 When buying things online, you also have to pay a postage and packaging fee, something you would not have to do had you bought the product in-store.  However, most websites do give you the option to select the postage you would like, for example if you pay more for first class delivery, then your purchases will get to you sooner than if you paid for standard delivery. There is also no guarantee that your purchases will reach you in the correct time, and in the condition it was in when it was dispatched. This is another disadvantage to shopping online, as there is always a possibility that your purchases will get lost or damaged in the process of delivery.

Security Issues

 Another major issue when shopping or bidding online is security. A lot of people are put off from shopping online due to the fact that you have to enter your bank and personal details online in order to pay for your purchases. As there are a lot of scammers who try to access your details, you can never be sure if the website you are using is 100% trustworthy, as some websites sell your details to other companies, which results in you receiving thousands of junk e-mails, trying to sell you things, or asking for your bank details etc.

My personal experience of E-commerce

Personally, I do shop online quite regularly, simply because there is such a wider range of products, and more often than not, they are easier to find, as you can just type in some key words into the search bar, and it will provide you with relevant results; something you cannot do in-store. I also use auctioning sites, such as ebay, as you can buy and sell things on there for great prices, and you know that your details are secure as you have the option to pay through another site called PayPal, which is like a bank account dedicated to ebay, meaning that you can pay straight from there. You also know who you can trust on ebay, as people can give you ‘feedback’, which results in a rating of how trustworthy you are, which all customers can see. So if someone has very negative feedback, you know not to buy or sell anything to them, because chances are, you will never receive the goods that you have paid them for.