Tag: e-commerce

  • Building a Global Brand in Today’s Digital World

    Building a Global Brand in Today’s Digital World

    Building a Global Brand in Today’s Digital World

    In the digital age, building a global brand has become more accessible and complex than ever before. With the internet bridging geographical gaps and social media amplifying voices, brands now have the opportunity to reach and engage with a global audience. However, the competition is fierce, and standing out requires a strategic approach. Here’s a guide to building a global brand in today’s digital world.

    1. Define Your Brand Identity

    Your brand identity is the foundation of your global presence. It encompasses your mission, values, voice, and visual elements. To create a strong brand identity:
    – Mission and Values: Clearly define what your brand stands for and the value it brings to the world. This helps in creating a consistent message that resonates across different cultures.
    – Brand Voice: Develop a unique and authentic voice that reflects your brand’s personality. Whether it’s formal, friendly, or humorous, consistency in communication builds recognition.
    – Visual Elements: Invest in a professional logo, color scheme, and typography. These elements should be consistent across all platforms to ensure brand recognition.

    2. Understand Your Target Audience

    To build a global brand, you need to understand your audience’s diverse needs and preferences. Conduct thorough market research to:
    – Identify Demographics: Know the age, gender, location, and interests of your target audience in different regions.
    – Cultural Sensitivity: Be aware of cultural differences and adapt your marketing strategies accordingly. What works in one country might not work in another.
    – Consumer Behavior: Understand how your audience interacts with brands online, what platforms they use, and what influences their purchasing decisions.

    3. Leverage Digital Marketing Channels

    Digital marketing is crucial for building a global brand. Utilize a mix of channels to maximize your reach:
    – Social Media: Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok are powerful tools for engaging with a global audience. Tailor your content to each platform’s unique features and audience.
    – Content Marketing: Create valuable and relevant content that addresses the needs of your audience. This could be blogs, videos, infographics, or podcasts. Localize content to resonate with different regions.
    – Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimize your website and content for search engines to improve visibility. Consider local SEO strategies to rank higher in different regions.
    – Email Marketing: Build an email list and send personalized content to your subscribers. Segment your list based on location and preferences to ensure relevance.

    4. Invest in E-commerce and Mobile Optimization

    In today’s digital world, a seamless online shopping experience is crucial:
    – E-commerce Platform: Choose a reliable e-commerce platform that supports international sales, multiple currencies, and various payment methods.
    – Mobile Optimization: Ensure your website is mobile-friendly. With the growing number of mobile users worldwide, a responsive design is essential for user experience and SEO.
    – Customer Support: Provide excellent customer service with multilingual support. Quick response times and helpful interactions build trust and loyalty.

    5. Utilize Influencer Marketing

    Influencers can help you reach new audiences and build credibility:
    – Identify Relevant Influencers: Collaborate with influencers who align with your brand values and have a significant following in your target regions.
    – Authentic Partnerships: Focus on building long-term relationships with influencers for authentic promotion rather than one-off campaigns.
    – Measure Impact: Track the performance of influencer campaigns through metrics like engagement, reach, and conversion rates.

    6. Analyze and Adapt

    Continuous improvement is key to maintaining a global brand:
    – Analytics Tools: Use tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and email marketing reports to track your performance.
    – Feedback Mechanism: Collect feedback from customers to understand their experiences and areas for improvement.
    – Adapt Strategies: Be flexible and willing to adjust your strategies based on data and feedback. The digital world is dynamic, and staying relevant requires agility.

    Building a global brand in today’s digital world is a multifaceted endeavor that requires a clear identity, understanding of your audience, effective use of digital channels, a strong e-commerce presence, strategic influencer partnerships, and continuous adaptation. By leveraging these strategies, you can create a brand that resonates with audiences worldwide and stands out in the competitive digital landscape.

  • Sixth Blog on e-commerce: Drupal E-commerce

    Sixth Blog on e-commerce: Drupal E-commerce

    In 2000, two University of Antwerp students, Dries Buytaert and Hans Snijder, needed an internet connection they could rely on. But permanent internet connections were rare for Antwerp students. So, Dries and Hans set up a wireless bridge between their dorms, sharing Hans’s ADSL modem connection among eight students. It worked, but they thought something was missing: a place to talk to each other.

    Behind the name
    Dries turned that missing feature into an opportunity. He started a small news site with a web board. He and his friends could post notes about the status of their network, talk about where they were having dinner, share interesting news, and more. They’d created a small content framework.

    For a while, the software they’d built was nameless. But when Dries graduated and left his dorm, they needed a way to stay in touch, so they decided to put the internal site online. While looking for the right domain name, Dries considered “dorp.org.” “Dorp” is the Dutch word for “village,” so it fit the small community they’d started.

    Drupal Commerce is open-source eCommerce software that augments the content management system Drupal. Within the context of a Drupal-based site, Drupal Commerce presents products for purchase; walks customers through the checkout process; keeps track of invoices, receipts, orders, and payments; facilitates shipping and payment; and performs other functions needed by online merchants.

    Drupal Commerce was created by Commerce Guys under the leadership of Ryan Szrama, the author of shopping-cart software Übercart. It was originally born as a rearchitecture project of Übercart, and was called “Übercore” until January 14, 2010, when Mr. Szrama renamed it “Drupal Commerce”. Version 1.0 was released on August 23, 2011.

    Drupal Commerce has had steady growth since its introduction. Over 53,000 active sites use it, including U.K. postal service Royal Mail, international language school Eurocentres, McDonald’s (France), and hundreds of consumer brands. The Drupal Commerce market has also supported publication of several instructional books and video courses

    Like Drupal itself, Drupal Commerce can be extended through the use of modules that add functionality and themes that define visual presentation. There are more than 300 Drupal Commerce-specific modules available for free in such categories as payment gateways, shipping service providers, and administrative and development tools.

    Drupal is content management software. It’s used to make many of the websites and applications you use every day. Drupal has great standard features, like easy content authoring, reliable performance, and excellent security. But what sets it apart is its flexibility; modularity is one of its core principles. Its tools help you build the versatile, structured content that dynamic web experiences need.

    It’s also a great choice for creating integrated digital frameworks. You can extend it with any one, or many, of thousands of add-ons. Modules expand Drupal’s functionality. Themes let you customize your content’s presentation. Distributions are packaged Drupal bundles you can use as starter-kits. Mix and match these components to enhance Drupal’s core abilities. Or, integrate Drupal with external services and other applications in your infrastructure. No other content management software is this powerful and scalable.

    The Drupal project is open source software. Anyone can download, use, work on, and share it with others. It’s built on principles like collaboration, globalism, and innovation. It’s distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). There are no licensing fees, ever. Drupal will always be free.

    Drupal 8
    Drupal 8 is the biggest update in Drupal’s history. Creating content is easier. Every built-in theme is responsively designed. It’s available in 100 languages, and its integration tools make it a great hub for complex ecosystems. More than 4,500 people, companies, and organizations contributed their time, experience, and imagination. The result? Over 200 new and improved features. Find out what Drupal 8 can do for you.

    Who uses Drupal
    Drupal is the platform the United States, London, France, and more use to communicate with citizens. It’s the framework media companies like BBC, NBC, and MTV UK rely on to inform and entertain the world. It’s part of how organizations and universities like Amnesty International and the University of Oxford work to make the world a better place. Read Drupal case studies or check out a list of organizations with profiles on Drupal.org.

    Made possible by a global community
    The Drupal community is one of the largest open source communities in the world. We’re more than 1,000,000 passionate developers, designers, trainers, strategists, coordinators, editors, and sponsors working together. We build Drupal, provide support, create documentation, share networking opportunities, and more. Our shared commitment to the open source spirit pushes the Drupal project forward. New members are always welcome.

    Sources:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drupal_Commerce
    https://www.drupal.org/

  • Fifth Blog on e-commerce: 3d cart

    Fifth Blog on e-commerce: 3d cart

    Here is how e-commerce works. Ecommerce marketing is the practice of using promotional tactics to drive traffic to your online store, converting that traffic into paying customers, and retaining those customers post-purchase. … You can use ecommerce marketing to promote your online store as a whole or to drive more sales for specific products. Optimized E-commerce sites will remember what you have purchased, become familiar with your particular taste or workout preference, and suggest items that may be of interest to you. Most online sites begin without any offsetting strategies that could give buyers an equivalent online experience.

    3dcart is a privately held technology company that develops e-commerce software for businesses. The company was founded in 1997 with headquarters in Tamarac, FL. 3dcart develops electronic commerce application for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems.

    3dcart was founded by developer and architect Gonzalo Gil as Infomart 2000, and development started in Tamarac, Florida in 1997. 3dcart was released to the public in 2001. 3dcart platform was created to maximize opportunities for retailers, and manufacturers. 3dcart was 100% bootstrapped, until Jan 2010, when it closed $1.25 million in funding. It saw major growth, when it was announced as the preferred ecommerce solutions for fulfillment by Amazon. In March 2017, the company announced partnership with Square Inc. to integrate and accept credit card payments through its platform.

    3dcart is a cloud-based e-commerce application to create an online retail store, utilizing Microsoft .NET 4.5 and other technologies, including AngularJS, Elasticsearch, Lucene and Entity Framework 6. The 3dcart e-commerce platform has a user interface that features administrative e-commerce tools, which clients can use to manage their online stores. It APIs for storefront as well as multiple shipping and payment interfaces, such as FedEx, UPS and USPS. 3dcart integrates 2checkout, Stripe, Solidcommerce, api2cart and other providers in its payment system.

    For a burgeoning online retailing operation there are several core building blocks with which to make your business a success. A competent web hosting service is critical as is a reliable payment processing gateway, but even more core than those is your ecommerce shopping cart platform. With that focus in mind, 3dcart does a very solid job providing e-tailing startups and fast growing operations the features they need to move forward, especially around mobile customers. While its feature set isn’t quite as deep as that of our Editors’ Choice winners, PinnacleCart and Shopify, it’s well worth consideration.
    • All-inclusive Everything you need for creating an optimized eCommerce website with a customizable online store and shopping cart, complete with a blog for content marketing. Web hosting and domain names are included, and there’s no need for additional eCommerce tools or services, whether you sell physical or digital products.
    • Customer-Friendly Your online shop is built for the best of customer experiences. Easily add high-quality product information and images, and let your customers view, edit, and save their shopping cart as they see fit. Implement eCommerce personalization via cross-selling recommended products.
    • Great-looking With a wide selection of mobile-ready themes suitable for any industry, anyone can start selling their products online now. Our leading eCommerce website builder gives you full control over your website’s look and feel, and you have total access to your theme files so you can customize them to match your brand.
    • Synchronized Sell on social media, multivendor marketplaces, and other channels to grow your eCommerce business and increase sales. Sync your products and orders with eBay, Amazon, Google Shopping, Facebook, and more, with centralized inventory management in your 3dcart store — a necessity for multichannel eCommerce.

    Affordable unlike other eCommerce software solutions, 3d cart does not have setup fees, transaction fees, or hidden fees. Starting at just $19/month.

    Sources:
    https://www.thebalancesmb.com/the-future-of-ecommerce-1141738?utm
    https://www.3dcart.com/

  • Fourth Blog on e-commerce websites – Wix

    Fourth Blog on e-commerce websites – Wix

    Wix.com Ltd. is a cloud-based web development platform that was first developed and popularised by the Israeli company also called Wix. It allows users to create HTML5 websites and mobile sites through the use of online drag and drop tools.

    Along with its headquarters and other offices in Israel, Wix also has offices in Canada, Brazil, Germany, India, Ireland, Lithuania, the United States, and Ukraine.

    Users can add social plug-ins, e-commerce, online marketing, contact forms, e-mail marketing, and community forums to their web sites using a variety of Wix-developed and third-party applications. The Wix website builder is built on a freemium business model, earning its revenues through premium upgrades.

    Wix was founded in 2006 by Israeli developers Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Wix was backed by investors Insight Venture Partners, Mangrove Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, DAG Ventures, and Benchmark Capital. The company entered an open beta phase in 2007 using a platform based on Adobe Flash. By April 2010 Wix had 3.5 million users and raised $10 million in Series C funding provided by Benchmark Capital and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Mangrove Capital Partners.

    In March 2011, Wix had 8.5 million users and raised $40 million in Series D funding, bringing its total funding to that date to $61 million.

    In June 2011, Wix launched the Facebook store module, making its first step into the social commerce trend. In March 2012, Wix launched a new HTML5 site builder, replacing the Adobe Flash technology. In October 2012, Wix launched an app market for users to sell applications built with the company’s automated web development technology. Wix’s software development kit lets app developers create and offer web apps to the millions of Wix users around the globe.

    By August 2013, the Wix platform had more than 34 million registered users

    Overview
    Wix offers everything you’d expect from a quality website builder. This includes hundreds of easy to customize templates, an intuitive drag-and-drop editor and access to the Wix app market. Regardless of your skill level or technical know-how with Wix, you can create an impressive website in a matter of minutes.

    In addition to a quality website builder, Wix offers a selection of tools to help you grow your business. These include SEO features, a reliable eCommerce platform as well as a newsletter builder. And the best part is that Wix is always adding new features so you can rest assured that your website will also be relevant and up-to-date.

    Features
    Looking for an effective user-friendly platform to run your online store? Wix might be what you’re looking for. Their eCommerce dashboard is easy to use, and their drag and drop interface works well for beginners. You can easily create any type of store and can even add a shopping cart without any technical knowledge. Other useful e-commerce features offered include the option to accept discount codes and coupons.

    Payment Options
    Wix’s eCommerce accepted forms of payment are a bit limited, but customers receive the basics such as PayPal and Authorize.net. Setup is easy, and you have the ability to include a few other payment processors in their add-ons section.

    Plans and Pricing
    Wix plans that include eCommerce features are straightforward and succinctly listed on their plan menu with features and services offered for each plan. Their specially tailored eCommerce plan is $16.50 per month and includes 20 GB of bandwidth and storage, free domain, online store, and is Wix ad free. Additionally, their eCommerce plan comes with a plethora of valuable vouchers and apps at no additional cost and the option to connect your current domain.

    If you wish to upgrade and opt for their VIP plan, you can enjoy all the features offered with their eCommerce plan, but with additional perks of 10 email campaigns a month and a professional site review for $24.50 per month.

    Customer Support
    Members can take advantage of Wix’s comprehensive customer support. There’s a help center where any questions you may have will be answered as quickly as possible. In addition, Wix offers useful, easy to follow tutorials and how to’s on all aspects of the platform. If that doesn’t help, there’s also a FAQ and a forum where you can post and browse other questions.

    Sources:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wix.com

    https://www.thetop10sites.com/ecommerce/wix/

  • Third Blog on e-commerce websites – Shopify

    Third Blog on e-commerce websites – Shopify

    Shopify Inc. is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It is also the name of its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Shopify offers online retailers a suite of services “including payments, marketing, shipping and customer engagement tools to simplify the process of running an online store for small merchants.” The company reported that it had more than 800,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries using its platform as of December 31, 2018, with total gross merchandise volume exceeding $41.1 billion for calendar 2018

    Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Dissatisfied with the existing e-commerce products on the market, Lütke, a computer programmer by trade, instead built his own. Lütke used the open source web application framework Ruby on Rails to build Snowdevil’s online store, and launched it after two months of development

    How does Shopify work?
    As I see it, Shopify is not only an easy way to launch and manage your online store. It’s geared towards supporting store owners in crucial aspects like opening additional channels (e.g. Amazon, eBay or Facebook), offering customer support tools (e.g. live chat) or by taking care of the technical hassles

    Shopify Pricing
    $26 Basic Shopify
    Sell unlimited products. Shopify will charge a 2% transaction fee unless you use Shopify Payments.
    $71 Shopify
    With more ecommerce features like gift cards and abandoned cart recovery. Transaction fees are 1% unless you use Shopify Payments.

    $266 Advanced Shopify
    Get advanced reports and automatically calculated shipping rates. Transaction fees are 0.5% unless you use Shopify Payments.

    Additional plans: The Lite plan to sell on social media can also be purchased for about $9 a month. Shopify also offers an enterprise plan (Plus) for gigantic online stores – it’s not cheap as it starts at $2.000 a month.

    A domain name costs extra (starting at $14 per year for a .com), but can be added through Shopify or any external registrar. If you can, it’s recommendable to use Shopify’s own payment gateway as this will save you additional charges. It’s currently only available in the USA, Puerto Rico, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Please note that transaction fees won’t be charged for manual payment methods (cash on delivery, bank transfer etc.).

    An excellent solution both for ambitious beginners and professionals. Shopify offers you a platform that makes selling not only easy but also provides the tools to improve your sales. Definitely not the cheapest solution out there but thanks to their support and ecosystem, Shopify takes much of the headache out of running an online store.

    Shopify ease of use
    Don’t be mistaken, although Shopify is really easy to use, it’s an extremely powerful tool too. For example, you can set up and launch your online store in one weekend (no joke). But you could also spend days or even weeks developing a custom solution to fulfill your needs. Personally, I think Shopify lets you do more with fewer clicks than competitors like Volusion or BigCommerce. And Content Management Systems such as WordPress or Magento don’t even come near in terms of ease of use.

    Source: Wikipedia

    Source: https://www.websitetooltester.com/en/reviews/shopify/

  • First blog on the E-commerce website options

    First blog on the E-commerce website options

    Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine, which displays the same product’s availability and pricing at different e-retailers. As of 2016, customers can shop online using a range of different computers and devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and smartphones.

    An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a regular “bricks-and-mortar” retailer or shopping center; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When an online store is set up to enable businesses to buy from another businesses, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. A typical online store enables the customer to browse the firm’s range of products and services, view photos or images of the products, along with information about the product specifications, features and prices.

    Online stores usually enable shoppers to use “search” features to find specific models, brands or items. Online customers must have access to the Internet and a valid method of payment in order to complete a transaction, such as a credit card, an Interac-enabled debit card, or a service such as PayPal. For physical products (e.g., paperback books or clothes), the e-tailer ships the products to the customer; for digital products, such as digital audio files of songs or software, the e-tailer usually sends the file to the customer over the Internet. The largest of these online retailing corporations are Alibaba, Amazon.com, and eBay.

    Over the next 10 blogs, we will be examining different e-commerce website platforms that one should consider when starting your online business to buy and sell goods or services. While this is not in any particular order we will start with the company that got the highest reviews a few years standing. That company is called BigCommerce out of Austin, Texas.

    BigCommerce is a privately held technology company and provides a SaaS ecommerce platform. The company was founded in 2009 and has 600+ employees with headquarters in Austin, Texas. BigCommerce was founded in 2009 by Australians Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper following a chance meeting in an online chatroom in 2003. In August 2009, the two relaunched a hosted version of Interspire Shopping Cart called “BigCommerce” and opened its first U.S. office.

    BigCommerce was 100% bootstrapped until July 31, 2011, when it closed $15 million in Series A funding from General Catalyst Partners. BigCommerce is one of the biggest Ecommerce website builders globally. They offer great features and excellent service with no transaction fees.

    BigCommerce has hundreds of apps in a searchable app store, including 3rd party developed features that you can add with 1-click. They’ve also got terrific SEO tools like table-less themes, optimized URLs, sitemaps, and a blogging platform, along with marketing tools with social media capabilities, email and multi-channel marketing outlets. Don’t forget analytics, multi-currency support and an auto-respond cart abandon feature that pushes them head and shoulders above the competition. BigCommerce premium templates are a better investment. BigCommerce has a beautifully-designed interface that’s modern, clean and effortless to navigate, and adapting your cart to incorporate features like bulk pricing or Google shopping is also a snap. If you are a coder or designer, you’ll also appreciate BigCommerce FTP access. Some may say that customer support is the most important factor in choosing website services. BigCommerce has 24/7 live chat and email, but limited phone support. BigCommerce wins here, as there are no limits on any of their subscription plans, either in bandwidth, or what you can sell. BigCommerce pulls ahead though, with their “go the extra mile” features and apps, their value for money and their across the board usability. Test drive BigCommerce today, and get your business off the ground in no time.

    Source
    www.ecommerceceo.com/ecommerce-platforms

  • Blog Series on E-commerce websites

    Blog Series on E-commerce websites

    Welcome to our series on the best e-commerce platforms to sell on. Over the next ten weeks we will be exploring the advantages and disadvantages of each of these platforms for your companies website.  Square Online Store, WooCommerce, X-cart, Zen Cart, Magento Open Source, OpenCart, PrestaShop, osCommerce, JigoShop, Drupal Commerce, WP ecommerce, Ubercart, Wix, Big Cartel, Jimdo and Ecwid.

    A complicated past
    Social media has long provided marketers a more cost-efficient and targeted way to reach potential customers. Using Facebook user data and targeted advertising, brands can reach their exact consumer based on real data points, rather than “spraying and praying” on other channels such as TV or print.

    At the same time, with talks of a retail meltdown after swathes of big-brand bankruptcies and shop closures around the world, over the past decade, retailers big and small have increasingly moved from brick-and-mortar to ecommerce.

    Given these two concurrent trends, it would seem like a no-brainer for businesses to jump on the social commerce bandwagon. However, while it might seem like a match made in heaven, the fact is that this is not the first time social and shopping have had a fling, and traditionally, it has not worked out. After all, Twitter tried a buy button to drive sales through its platform, and it then gradually phased it out after it failed to hook consumers.

    The big problem is that with an abundance of shopping and social options available, consumers simply aren’t using social platforms to buy products. Social media plays a vital role early on the sales funnel, as a research tool and influencer, but to date, most consumers are still not buying directly via social platforms. In fact, a recent study shows that less than one-half of Facebook users have ever bought a product after clicking on a post or a link in a post.

    From the outset, social media platforms have offered an invaluable resource for marketers to drive sales online and in-store by reaching the right audiences through targeted advertising. In fact, recent studies suggest that as many as 87 percent of ecommerce shoppers believe social media plays a vital role in helping them make shopping decisions.

    However, while social platforms have always been a marketer’s dream, in recent years, we have witnessed multiple leading social media platforms trying to bridge the gap between social and shopping by facilitating direct purchases within their platforms. And with the introduction of more integrated shoppable ads on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, there have been whispers that 2018 may be the year social commerce gains traction.

    But while social giants are trying to wriggle out of the position of middleman and get behind the counter, are the models of social media and ecommerce really a match made in heaven?

    In order to further understand where e-commerce is going we should look at where it has been.

    E-commerce is the activity of buying or selling of products on online services or over 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 the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction’s life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized online liquor store inventory services. There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions. E-commerce is supported by electronic business.

    E-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:
    • Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants
    • Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales
    • Business-to-business buying and selling;
    • Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media
    • Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange
    • Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters)
    • Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services
    • Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.
    • Contemporary electronic commerce can be classified into two categories. The first category is business based on types of goods sold (involves everything from ordering “digital” content for immediate online consumption, to ordering conventional goods and services, to “meta” services to facilitate other types of electronic commerce). The second category is based on the nature of the participant (B2B, B2C, C2B and C2C);

    On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international business. Data integrity and security are pressing issues for electronic commerce.
    Aside from traditional e-commerce, the terms m-Commerce (mobile commerce) as well (around 2013) t-Commerce have also been used.

    • E-commerce markets are growing at noticeable rates. The online market is expected to grow by 56% in 2015–2020. In 2017, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 2.3 trillion US dollars and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 4.88 trillion US dollars in 2021. Traditional markets are only expected 2% growth during the same time. Brick and mortar retailers are struggling because of online retailer’s ability to offer lower prices and higher efficiency. Many larger retailers are able to maintain a presence offline and online by linking physical and online offerings.

    E-commerce allows customers to overcome geographical barriers and allows them to purchase products anytime and from anywhere.

    There are two ways for marketers to conduct business through e-commerce: fully online or online along with a brick and mortar store. However, online retailers cannot offer the physical experience that traditional retailers can. It can be difficult to judge the quality of a product without the physical experience, which may cause customers to experience product or seller uncertainty. Another issue regarding the online market is concerns about the security of online transactions. Many customers remain loyal to well-known retailers because of this issue.

    Over the next 10 weeks, our blog series will be focusing on the different e-commerce platforms and what is used in certain sectors of the market.

    Sources:
    https://www.adweek.com/digital/will-social-media-and-ecommerce-ever-really-get-together/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce

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