E-Commerce - Factors That Led to Emergence of E-Commerce

E-commerce

Shopping has been an essential consumer activity for ages, with the stereotype of women being responsible for shopping while man provided the financial means. With times changing and the country developing gender equality being respected that meant both man and women of the house both find themselves with less time to do shopping and long queues on shops meant that most consumers could not have the patience, and they need to maximise time effectively for economic returns.

With the advancement of technology, that lead to the development of e-commerce which is a platform that allows both the seller and buyer to exchange information effectively and maximise time through shopping online. This platform allows commercial transactions to be conducted electronically on the Internet.

FACTORS THAT LED TO EMERGENCE OF E-COMMERCE

There are my many factors that led to e-commerce, the first major factor was to help companies sell fast and easily and to test out innovative ways of doing business in by providing remote services which made access of shopping from home available to their customers (Sarreal, 2016) and also it was to provide to gain competitive advantage and to attend many customers as possible.

Thirdly the brick-and-mortar banks began to investigate ways of delivering online limited services around the 1990’s to reduce operating cost which led to more expansion of their internet presence that provided improved websites with additional transactions, Cheap pricing, payment options, improved connections and Availability of relevant items to consumers also led to the emergence of e-shopping in SA (Semiono, 2015)

Further the other factor is to generate more profit, e-commerce is profitable as it has low operating cost, and it represent a structure that ensures securing customer retention since it provides services of continuous growing value and it’s more effective than its competitors and customer remain loyal and are willing to pay higher price for a better, quick and effective service. Lastly the increasing demand of e-commerce by customer, it provides new levels of convenience and flexibility by their powerful and easy use of financial management tool and product and services than old way of shopping and it’s efficient (Tan and Teo).

JUSTIFICATION OF E-COMMERCE AS GROWING TREND

Not too long ago people shopped in their local stores complete with various challenges such as parking issues, weather issues, and facing both financial risks- where a loss receipts meant no returns in case needed to and also faced time risks where by a costumer spend both time and money to get to the physical store only to find that the desired product is not available and having to stand in long queues. Even when online-shopping was available people felt uncomfortable with the idea of using their credit cards and giving personal information to virtual shops. All that however has changed and this is due to acquired needs and change in consumer’s perception.

Consumers are still concerned about the security of online-shopping but more and more consumers are prepared to buy from the web. Online-shopping has become more and popular due to the benefits that consumers perceive. These benefits are faster delivery; many sites offering free shipping, easier refund and return policies. Online-shopping is far more convenient, saves time, and makes it easier to access information. Consumers prefer online-shopping rather than brick and mortar retailing, mainly due to convenient home delivery, broader selection of goods and services, competitive pricing and convenient time to receive product (Ahn, Ryu and Tlan 2004).

Increase in Network access and advances in internet technology have brought about rapid growth of electronic commercial online-shopping.

IMPLICATIONS OF E-COMMERCE FOR MARKETERS

In e-commerce online-shopping is the most successful emerging trend. A company’s marketers need to be able to persuade and retain customers, to use online-shopping, and to do so they need to know the issues that online customers are concerned with. Hence e-commerce betters the use of both qualitative and quantitative research to understand the behaviour, perceptions and expectations of consumers better, so that marketing strategies that are effective can be implemented to better satisfy their customers.