Explain the overall benefits of eCommerce andhow e-commerce can help reduce production cycle times. Give specific examples of companies and how this has worked. 3000 words Some e-procurement tools and...

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E-commerce is concerned with the buying and selling of goods and services and e-commerce is also known as electronic commerce. In other words, it is the transmitting of data or funds over an electronic network mainly via the internet. Furthermore, the business transactions take place either as business-to-consumer, business-to-business, or consumer-to-business. E-commerce is also huge part of an economy and it is important to the businesses that sell their services or products online. It also broadens the brand of a company.
Benefits of e-commerce
E-commerce helps companies for reducing the cost to create procedures, retrieve, distribute and manage paper-based information by digitizing the information. The following are some of the major benefits of e-commerce:
Reaching and attracting new consumers- e-business provides an individual with an opportunity for reaching more and new consumers. In the traditional marketplace, retailers generally run their majority of business with branding and references and also personal relations. It is quite common because of the SEO for any e-commerce portal for giving unique visitors landing on their page as they were searching for some particular items online not because they were in the website (Jan et al., 2019).
Fastest buying process- Consumers have the liberty of spending less time shopping for what they want. Moreover, customers can browse through a lot of items easily at a time and buy whatever they like. They can also find some specific items when they are online that are in physical stores and are not found in their locality or far away from them.
Product and store listing creation- A product listing is what a consumer sees when they are searching for a specific product. It is one of the greatest advantages of e-commerce for the seller. Therefore, it is the benefit that one can personalize their product listing after creating them. Seller may also add some eye-catching images, description, delivery date and shipping fee, and product category price. Hence, in a single step, one can tell the consumer a lot of things about the item.
Cost reduction- One of the biggest advantages of e-commerce to businesses that keeps the sellers interested in online selling is reducing the cost. A lot of sellers have to pay more for maintaining their physical store. Furthermore, they need extra upfront costs such as repairs, rent, store design, etc. In a lot of cases even after investing in the stock, services, workforce, and maintenance sellers do not receive the ROI and the profits that they desire (Ghandour, 2015).
Selling across the globe- Online stores are not confined to the local areas like the physical stores so it provides an individual with a platform for selling their products and services across the world. They can also target consumers without any restrictions and limits.
It stays open 24/7- It is one of the major benefits of e-commerce as products and services are available 7 days a week and for 24 hours. In this manner, the seller can enhance their sales by boosting the number of orders. It will be quite beneficial for the consumers also, as they will be able to purchase their products whenever they need no matter whatever it is mid-night or early morning as well as they can purchase from anywhere be it their office or their home.
Cost-efficient- Creating and managing an online store is quite cost-effective when contrasted with a physical store as it reduces the cost of land, rent, electricity, and water. The online store also cuts down the consumer’s travel cost and provides an excellent shopping experience for the sellers and the consumers both.
Beneficial for society- Ecommerce helps a business to reduce air pollution as the traffic is reduced as consumers always travel for shopping. It also reduces the cost of purchasing products and services as the cost of products and services are the cheapest so people can afford them. People from remote areas can avail the goods and services that are offered by e-commerce. It is because only an internet connection is required for accessing the product and services (Chivasa & Hurasha, 2016). Similarly, e-commerce also helps the government for delivering public services such as health care, social services, and education at minimum cost.
It is quite evident that through the advantages of e-commerce a lot of people are creating a secure and user-friendly platform for the e-commerce portal. However, an online seller must know about the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing e-commerce.
Walmart is one of the most prominent examples that have soaked up the benefits of e-commerce as it makes up to 3% of the total sales of this firm. The mobile technology is working hand-in-hand with the in-store experience of the firm as it allows the users for creating “smart shopping lists” or having access to features such as product search bar, barcode scanner, and Walmart Pay. This firm is continuously making improvements in their e-commerce section as with the help of this Store Assistant mobile app they brought a new set of tools for changing the shopping experience in Walmart.
Another company that has seen the potential of e-commerce and has applied it is Amazon. This company holds the record of being one of the best e-commerce applications at present. The online retail services of Amazon allow the businesses for selling their products on the same platform as the Amazon retailer such as Amazon.com. After they create an account then the businesses can upload their product inventory, sell a lot of products and take their payments online as Amazon Pay is available.
Ecommerce is one of the most desirable forms of business organization because it is capable of overcoming the barriers of place and time. Nevertheless, its flexibility is another prime reason why it is highly recommended (Imran Khan et al., 2016). Consumers across the globe can log into the website of a firm easily at any time of the day and purchase products as per their suitability.
The ways by which e-commerce can help reduce production cycle...