Beyond the Cart: Exploring the Depths of E-Commerce Transactions

E-commerce

As most of us know, E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over an electronic network. This is just touching the surface, it goes beyond this as there are a diverse number of channels these transactions can take place in. The most common are business-to-business (B2B ), business-to-consumer (B2C ), consumer-to-consumer ( C2C ) or consumer-to-business (C2B ).??

Advantages of E-commerce

The biggest advantage to E-commerce is its availability and flexibility compared to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Traditional stores have fixed locations, specific time and days of operation, and operate in a “whatever we have is what we have” approach, whereas e-commerce takes all these hurdles away from shoppers by being available 24/7, makes the buyer process easier and faster because customers don’t have to wait in line to get checked out, and buyers can locate specific things they’re looking for on a website by filtering.

How does the process work?

When you place an order online, your web browser talks to store's servers. The order details then travel to a main computer called the order manager , which shares the info with inventory databases, the merchant system handling payments, like PayPal, and the bank's computer. This ensures there's enough stock and funds. Once everything is validated, the order manager tells the website to confirm your successful order.

The growth of E-Commerce

"In 2011, e-commerce accounted for 5% of total retail sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2020, with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had risen to over 16% of retail sales and this can be credited to two big players, Amazon, and eBay". ?

The disadvantages of E-Commerce

The biggest drawback to e-commerce is customers not being able to see or touch the products they’re interested in buying. This lack of hands-on experience can lead to disappointment if the product doesn’t meet the customer’s expectations. Going beyond this idea, some shoppers do not always trust e-commerce because of the security risks that come with it . Hackers create authentic looking websites that sell products we’re all accustomed to, and they hope to steal people’s personal information this way. There’s also the risk of legit e-commerce websites getting hacked and people’s saved credit card information for future purchases getting breached.