1. Ecommerce stands for electronic commerce and refers to a digital platform and a business model
where you can buy or sell products online. Every time you purchase a product online, you’re
participating in the ecommerce economy.
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling
of products on online services or over the Internet. E-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.
Key Advantages of E-Commerce over Traditional Commerce
1 – Low Overhead
One of the critical advantages of e-commerce is the relatively low overhead required to start an online
store. The cost of rent, utilities, and employees makes retail space expensive. Lower operation costs make
it possible for many e-commerce sellers to beat out brick-and-mortar prices.
Online retailers need less space — they can run an e-commerce site out of a garage and use dropshipping
to avoid a warehouse full of inventory. As an online store grows, so will employee requirements. Still, the
costs are lower, and adjusting is more manageable without a commercial lease.
2 – Online Stores are Always Open
Modern consumers are getting ever more demanding, especially when it comes to convenience. The
limitations of regular retail store hours are a significant inconvenience for many shoppers. One of the
advantages of e-commerce over traditional retail is that an online store never closes.
3 – Location Independent
A physical store limits you by the geographical area that you can service. Another advantages of e-
commerce is that their location no longer restricts retailers. An online store has the potential to reach
customers worldwide. The proliferation of mobile devices gives people the power to purchase on the go,
right in the palm of their hand.
4 – Lower Staffing Requirements
You will need fewer employees in an online business than in a retail location. That makes it one of the
advantages of running an e-commerce business. You can start and run an e-commerce business all by
yourself. Only when you begin to grow or when you have the capital should you begin to build a team.
5 – No Travel Time and Costs
Having to travel long distances to reach their preferred physical store can be a deterrent for many
consumers. One of the advantages of e-commerce is visiting the same store virtually, with just a few
mouse clicks. This ability makes online shopping more cost and time-efficient, which means consumers
have extra funds to spend.
2. 6 – More Scalability
Expanding or decreasing your e-commerce business is easy, especially if you use drop shipping to
eliminate the need for a lot of space. Adding items or narrowing your store down to the top sellers is a
simple process. Expanding or downsizing is more complicated when you have retail space.
7 – Process More Orders
What happens if your business experiences a sudden increase in popularity? Maybe you were featured on
the news or mentioned on social media. Great news, if your retail store can handle the crowds, which is
even more challenging with social distancing limitations. Another advantage of e-commerce over
traditional retail is that an online store can take hundreds, and even thousands, of orders a day.
8 – Build Trust through Content
Simple, useful content will help you reach potential customers. Tutorials and product demos, blogs, and
other digital media provide your audience value and position your brand.
9 – Product Reviews
One of the significant advantages of e-commerce over offline retail is that the e-Commerce provides you
with customer and product reviews. Reviews are an essential factor as far as brand credibility and
customer satisfaction is concerned. And the customer feedback also helps you as a seller find out the
flaws in your product so that you can rectify them later.
10 – Promoting Featured Products
Making changes to a website is far simpler than rearranging a physical space.
11 – Customized User Experience
Data about a customer’s past purchases and online activity offer insight into their interests, which can
deliver a personalized experience. Sharing products targeted to a shopper’s tastes is a way to appeal to
customers with a deeper level of familiarity.
12 – Instantaneous Purchasing
One of the advantages of e-commerce is optimal convenience. Shopping offline requires walking around,
finding what you’re looking for, locating a sales associate willing to help you, making your way to the
checkout, and standing in line. All of that you can skip online.
13 – Easier to Locate Specific Products
It is no longer about pushing a shopping cart to the correct aisle or scouting for the desired product. On an
e-commerce website, customers can click through intuitive navigation or use a search box to narrow down
their product search immediately. Some websites remember customer preferences and shopping lists to
facilitate repeat purchases.
14 – Comparison shopping
3. E-commerce facilitates comparison shopping. Many online services allow customers to browse multiple
e-commerce merchants and find the best prices.
15 – Shopping Incentives
Of course, there are physical equivalents to deals, bargains, coupons, and even group buying. But one of
the advantages of e-commerce is the greater convenience. For instance, if a customer has multiple
discount coupons from different stores, it may be impossible to redeem them all. But the customer could
do that online with a few mouse-clicks.
16 – Market Niche Products
Are you focusing your products on a niche audience? Buyers and sellers of niche products can find it
difficult to connect in the physical world. Online, it is only a matter of the customer searching for the
product in a search engine. One example could be the purchase of obsolete parts. Instead of trashing older
equipment for lack of spares,today, we can locate parts online with great ease.
17 – Increased Search Engine Visibility
Traditional retail relies on branding, word-of-mouth, and building relationships to increase sales. One of
the advantages of e-commerce over traditional retail is that online retail benefits from search engine
traffic. It is not unusual for customers to follow a link in search engine results and land on an e-commerce
website that they have not considered or known before. This additional source of traffic can be the tipping
point for some e-commerce businesses.
18 – Collect Customer Information
How many of us automatically say “no” when a cashier asks for our email address at checkout? And how
many of us automatically enter this same personal information and more online? I know I’m guilty.
Newsletter signups and other forms that gather information are vital to building a contact list. And they
are much more efficient than a clipboard and pen on a countertop or having employees ask.
19 – Tracking Consumer Data
Data from resources like Google Adwords and site analytics can tell you how someone found you. Unlike
traditional advertising, where ROI can sometimes be murky, data gleaned from analytics provides you
with insight into where people came from and what they intend to purchase.
20 – Retargeting and Remarketing
Retargeting uses cookies from previous visits to display ads. Even if someone doesn’t make a purchase,
retargeting is a marketing tactic to gain business by keeping your brand in front of potential customers.
You’ll see retargeting ads on websites unrelated to the page you’ve visited.
Remarketing uses the information from someone’s past purchases and site interactions to send emails
about sales and promotions for related products. Remarketing is a more laser-focused marketing tactic
that requires a customer’s email address.
4. 21 – Targeted Communication
Using the information that a customer provides in the registration form and placing cookies on the
customer’s computer, an e-commerce merchant can access a lot of information about its customers. It, in
turn, can be used to communicate relevant messages. When searching for a particular product on
Amazon.com, you will automatically see listings of other similar products.
