What is e-commerce? E-commerce refers to all online operations involving the purchase and sale of products and services. E-commerce, in other terms, is the process of completing online transactions. E-commerce occurs when you visit your favorite online store to purchase a new pair of shoes. Continue reading this post; we will make sure that you have a thorough understanding of what ecommerce entails.
What is Ecommerce?
E-commerce, also known as online commerce, is the purchasing and selling of goods or services through the internet, as well as the transmission of money and data to complete these transactions. E-commerce is commonly used to refer to the online sale of actual goods, but it can also refer to any form of business transaction enabled by the Internet. While e-business refers to all aspects of an internet firm, e-commerce specifically governs the purchase and sale of goods and services.
E-commerce begins with the first online sale on August 11, 1994, when a man sold a CD to a friend of the band, Sting, through his NetMarket website, an American retail platform. This is the first time that a customer buys a product from a company through the world wide web or e-commerce as we know it today.
Since then, e-commerce has evolved to create products that are easier to find and buy from online stores and marketplaces. Independent businesses, small businesses, and large corporations have benefited from e-commerce, which allows them to sell their products and services at a scale that traditional offline retail cannot. Global retail e-commerce plans to reach $27 trillion by 2020.
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How Many Types of The Ecommerce Models?
Here are 4 main types of e-commerce models that can drive almost every transaction that takes place between customers and companies.
1. Business To Customer
When a company sells a product or service to an individual customer. For example, you buy a pair of shoes from an online store.
2. Business To Business
When a business sells a product or service to another business. For example, a company sells software as a service for use by other companies.
3. Customer To Customer
When a customer sells a product or service to another customer. For example, you are selling your old furniture on eBay to another buyer.
4. Customer To Business
When a customer sells their products or services to a company or organization. For example, an influencer offers an online display to their audience for a fee, or a photographer licenses their photo for use by a company.
Here Are Some Examples Of Ecommerce
E-commerce can take many forms, including various transactional relationships between businesses and consumers, and the various products exchanged in those transactions.
Retail
The sale of a product by a business directly to the buyer without any intermediaries.
Wholesale
Selling goods in bulk, often to a retailer who then sells them directly to customers.
Dropshipping
A transaction with a product that is manufactured and shipped to a customer by a third party.
Crowdfunding
Collecting money from customers before the product is available to increase the seed capital needed to bring it to market.
Subscription
Regular automatic purchase of a product or service until the subscriber cancels the purchase.
Physical products
Any tangible asset that requires inventory to complete and physically delivers orders to customers as sales occur.
Digital products
Downloadable digital products, templates, courses, or media that must be purchased for consumption or licensed for use.
Services
A skill set is offered in exchange for compensation. Service provider time can be purchased for a fee.
