What is e-commerce? Advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce for businesses

E-commerce is a model that many businesses choose to develop today because it brings high profits and revenue. In this article, I will help you learn in detail about the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce for businesses!

I. What is e-commerce?

E-commerce, also known as E-Commerce (Electronic commerce), is the process of buying and selling products via the internet. Goods will be shipped after the buyer and seller have transacted with each other. You can pay directly upon receipt of goods or pay indirectly via Internet Banking or popular e-wallets. The special thing is that you can order any goods anywhere at any time you want.

II. Advantages of e-commerce

1. Global marketing scope
Previously, stores were limited in the number of customers who came to shop directly. However, with the form of e-commerce, this limit is completely broken. Customers just need to go to the store's website and choose the goods they want and they can have them delivered to their doorstep without having to go to the store to buy.

With the current demand for internet use, e-commerce business owners can easily reach many new and more diverse customer groups. After you set up an e-commerce model for your store, all customers around the world can access the products you are selling to learn about and place orders.

2. Unlimited transactions
When setting up an e-commerce model, all transactions on the electronic market are not limited by geographical distance and time. Specifically, sellers can operate their stores 24/7 so that buyers can refer to their products at any time. In addition, buyers can exchange, buy and sell products anywhere and pay in any form.

3. Save on operating costs
Creating and maintaining a website will be less expensive than running a traditional store. If a direct store forces you to spend a large amount of money on renting space, staff, paying electricity bills or other maintenance costs, ... then e-commerce will help you save that cost. However, you still need to buy some web hosting services and domain names, but the total cost will still be much lower than what you need to spend when selling traditionally.

To operate e-commerce, you need the right communication channels, you can consider between Social channels, running Ads or learning SEO. Choosing a communication channel is very important because depending on the industry, the customer base will concentrate on different communication channels

4. Open online 24/7
When you apply the e-commerce model, your store can be accessed all day. It allows people to shop 24/7 no matter where they live in the world. Even when you have not yet processed a customer's order, it can still immediately browse the items purchased in your store.

5. Many promotions, promotions
Many promotions, promotions on important holidays are one of the plus points that attract customers in this model. Providing products at "bargain" prices but still ensuring quality has helped the revenue of stores using E-commerce increase dramatically.

Some e-commerce platforms will evaluate customers by levels such as silver, gold, diamond members based on their shopping level. The higher the level, the more incentives these customers receive when there are promotions.

6. Direct access to consumers
Through the Internet, stores or brands that use e-commerce as a form of development can directly connect with their customers without having to pay for advertising or run advertising campaigns on TV to attract customers' attention. You can completely master your marketing activities by adjusting them to suit the desires and needs of customers.

7. Transparent and clear information
All E-commerce products will be displayed in detail from price, material, color, usage, reviews, ... From there, it will help customers have a more intuitive view of the products as well as easily choose whether the product is suitable for their needs or not. In addition, customers can rely on reviews to help stores overcome unwanted shortcomings.

8. Easy to develop, expand and optimize
The difference between traditional sales and using E-commerce is that E-commerce will help the store not be limited by its physical location. It allows you to launch products in unlimited quantities because you are not limited by space. Besides, it helps you save on the cost of renting a space or hiring employees so you can have more costs to optimize the website.

9. Easy to adapt when market demand changes
When doing business with any product, you need to research to keep up with market changes. The e-commerce model helps businesses