Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The E-Z Way to Do Business

The E-Z Way to Do Business




The E-Z Way to Do Business


Ecommerce. You might have heard it several times and might have some vague idea of what it is but do you know what it is really about?
Electric commerce, or Ecommerce as it is popularly called, is the term used for basically transactions or commerce done electronically, as in doing it through a networks such as the Internet. It involves a wide array of different businesses ranging from auction sites, retail based sites up to services and goods trading sites used by corporations.
Ecommerce has come a long way from being a term that pertains to commerce literally done electronically, through technologies introduced in the 1970s like Electronic Data Interchange and Electronic Funds Transfer.
Later on the term also embraced the use of credit cards and ATMs as part of it. What we consider as electric commerce now is actually a different breed from its other incarnations in previous decades. It is actually web commerce as it has a very important element that sets it apart from the ecommerce of yesteryears - the Internet.
Today, it covers many kinds of business transactions apart from usual business transactions such as banking. With the help of the Internet, it has also delved into unusual territories like logistics, off-shore manufacturing, and outsourcing.

So what are the reasons why ecommerce thrives in this day and age of the Internet?

There are several reasons but its impact on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can be considered as the best explanation why ecommerce gained recognition as a viable tool for businesses.
These impacts include: quickening of transaction processes between consumers and the business making every transaction convenient for both parties; the easing of the transaction between the SMEs and their banks thereby making it easier for the SMEs to be updated about their financial position; the email which, coupled with the lowering cost of the use of the Internet, proved to be invaluable for business communication and transaction.
Although generally beneficial to a business, ecommerce also grapples with old problems it has faced since it was developed in the 1970s and new problems arising from the complexities brought on by the emergence of the Internet.

Old problems like security concerns, lack of instant gratification of customers and inconsistency of return policies still plague ecommerce side by side with new ones like the problem of access to the internet by consumers and the poor website design of one's business.
Ecommerce has revolutionized the way people do commerce with each other. Having been informed of its basics and its pros and cons, you can now decide if jumping to the ecommerce wagon will be a profitable ride for your business.

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