Traditional e-commerce: If you are still unsure about what exactly is an E-commerce business, this blog article will clear all your doubts and give you a very clear picture.
As everyone knows, e-commerce has been on the rise in recent times, and some business owners are unsure whether the traditional business or the new e-commerce business model is more beneficial. Both have their own set of advantages and disadvantages, which we will examine.
What exactly is an e-commerce business? E-Commerce is a relatively easy business in which you offer your products and services over the internet by creating your own online store or website. There was a time when you were meant to go to the market and buy items while standing in a line.
Let us discuss major differences between traditional business and e-commerce business –
AVAILABILITY-
One of the primary distinctions between traditional and e-commerce businesses is availability. If you want to buy anything on a bank holiday or whenever you have free time, it is not always possible for businesses to be open for you.
You cannot leave work after 10 p.m. and expect all stores to open for you, but with e-commerce, you have the choice of continual availability of the items you want to buy. In this model, you can have the availability of anything 24/7 at your leisure.
OPERATION STRATEGY-
Traditional businesses are intended to be local in nature since the user base will undoubtedly be limited. In contrast, in the e-commerce industry, you may completely upgrade with promotional strategies and campaigns.
You may have a very large audience base here, not only a local audience base but also a worldwide audience base. Ecommerce allows you to expand your user base on a worldwide scale.
Though there are not many limits when selling in your own region, this is not the case with e-commerce since here you must keep in mind all the restrictions, all the business regulations, and only encourage lawful selling.
SHIPPING – TRADITIONAL E-COMMERCE
When you run a typical business, you will have to stock up on a lot of items to sell them, and stocking up on all of the products and services is quite expensive, as is the entire logistics process. There is also the possibility that your items will be damaged throughout the transportation procedure.
The advantage here is that consumers receive their items on time since the transaction is straightforward. Hand-to-hand. Traditional e-commerce, However, when it comes to internet businesses, there are generally issues with sending the items, and delivery might take a long time.
In both situations, if items are destroyed during the shipping process, you must pay for it, and it is the loss of the business owners.
TRUST-
People can buy from you straight from your shop if you have an offline store, but with e-commerce stores, people can’t see the items, so until and until you’re a huge brand, people won’t completely trust you; you’ll have to create that brand value for that.
One-on-one engagement is available at physical stores, so customers can readily trust the sellers and view the items in person. It is also extremely simple to instill trust in the thoughts of customers in offline suppliers.
NEW CUSTOMERS – TRADITIONAL E-COMMERCE
With e-commerce, you may use a variety of tactics to increase traffic to your website, which will ultimately result in a large number of new consumers, but this is not the case with offline businesses, where word of mouth is the most important factor and makes things most dependable for them.
Obtaining a new and expanded consumer base might be extremely tough for an offline firm, but it is not impossible.
DELIVERY-
Delivering items is not an issue with e-commerce or conventional businesses, however, online e-commerce sites can take a long to send the products and it can take up to a week to get the things delivered, whereas traditional businesses promise rapid delivery.
LOWER PRICES-
The advantage that eCommerce businesses have is that they can list their products at a much lower price, which will ultimately attract a lot of customers, whereas, with offline businesses, you can’t do much with the pricing of the products because you’re paying for stocking up the products, logistics, electricity, rent, and so much more.
Online company owners may save a lot of money by using dropshipping for their online business.
CUSTOMER INTERACTION-
Anyone who operates a business understands the significance of customer engagement, where it is very easy to communicate with consumers and develop trust.
You can’t chat with your customers face to face while you’re doing business online; you can only communicate with them via text or phone calls.
THE DIFFERENT MODELS OF E-COMMERCE BUSINESS:
B2B BUSINESS-
It is nothing more than commercial transactions that occur between two firms through the internet and is referred to as b2b business.
Alibaba is an excellent illustration of this type of company style.
B2C BUSINESS-
The owner sells items and services directly to customers over the internet in this case, which is known as the B2C business model.
C2C BUSINESS-
C2C business models are those in which the selling and buying transactions take place directly between two consumers, also via the internet.
FINAL THOUGHTS-
Both business models have their pros and downsides; before you start either of them, make sure you conduct your appropriate study and make that selection.
A lot of people also believe that e-commerce will completely replace all offline stores, which is not the case because the majority of people still do not know anything about the e-commerce world.
There is a future for it, but it will be just better if both business models co-exist and allow people to choose what they want to go for.
Read More: 6 MUST-HAVE FEATURES IN E-COMMERCE MOBILE APP JUST LIKE NYKAA & MYNTRA
