Following its origin from the trade by barter system to the development of a market place, trading has since evolved from the traditional mode of buying and selling which involved one going to the market place or wherever the location of acquiring the said goods and services are to buying and selling digitally or through electronic mediums which we know as e-commerce.
As the use of tech at both financial and social level became popular so did buying and selling online. This has affected not just the sellers but also the buyers with its ability to bridge the gap in geographical barriers making it possible for buying and selling to take place from anywhere across the world.
Without disregarding the traditional mode of buying and selling which still has an impact and plays a major role in the trading system, it is important to note that the convenience and ease which e-commerce provides has encouraged lots of business owners and SMEs to jump on selling through e-commerce platforms and rely heavily on digital media completely changing the ball game of trading.
It would seem easier to streamline the difference between these two but for the purpose of this article, we would be discussing how e-commerce has affected traditional mode of buying and selling
Let’s get on shall we !
Convenience and ease
Convenience was what fueled the new developments as e-commerce platforms were created to make it easy for sellers to set up stores online for their businesses and give buyers the ability to choose from a variety of products and services to shop at the comfort of their space.
With People facing hectic work schedules on a daily basis and stress that comes with life generally, they will jump at every opportunity to make their life easier and online shopping takes away most of the stress, especially having to navigate through cities searching for stores or shops to buy from.
The convenience function of e-commerce has completely changed the narrative of buying and selling traditionally where the exchange of goods and services can only take place during work hours.
E-commerce offers the convenience of purchasing items wherever and whenever the need arises. Buyers can stay in the comfort of their homes, place an order, make payments through their preferred method with their phones and have it delivered to their doorstep. E-commerce also has the 24/7 availability advantage which makes it easier for consumers to reach out anytime.
Visibility
Visibility is another unbeatable function of e-commerce. The traditional trading system survived on word of mouth or people simply discovering you exist with a visit to make purchases.
The emergence of ecommerce gave business owners control in terms of visibility. As an e-commerce business owner, the world is yours because the world is online and they are exposed to every business that exists online. This gives you the ability to sell your product anywhere in the world and reach a large audience.
E-commerce offers the opportunity to increase your outreach. With good SEO optimization, your business will rank first when a search is carried out. You can stay anywhere in the world and business will have a global reach.
There are lots of businesses that still get advertised through word of mouth but in today’s world most people would first of all check out the businesses online even after getting the information and this makes online business stand a better chance of getting more clients. This is the reason businesses today are clamoring for a spot in the digital space.
Low cost and ease of setup
The e-commerce platform also gives sellers opportunities to sell and set up businesses because of its low cost provision. Today we have lots of thriving online businesses that didn’t need much expenditure or physical space in terms of set up.
With e-commerce, it is easy to set up a business as you do not need to purchase or rent a physical space. Apart from the rental cost, the cost of running an e-commerce business is reasonably cheap and you do not need to spend much on electricity, diesel or other things that keep a brick-and-mortar store running.
Setting up an e-commerce website is quite easy. Once you have planned out your product and services and researched the market, you can contact a good software company to help set up the website.
Engaging the services of a professional is not compulsory, a simple Youtube tutorial on setting up e-commerce will do the trick.
Customer Insight
E-commerce offers customers the opportunity to give feedback and reviews on products and services.
It could be a form of comments or star rating that customers that have been in contact with your services drop on your e-commerce website. E-commerce is your best bet at knowing what your customers are saying or thinking about your business.
These reviews can help you as a business owner improve your product and services thereby increasing customer satisfaction and also helping existing and potential customers make buying decisions.
Flexibility
The flexible function of e-commerce is you being able to reach customers whenever, wherever across any device or touchpoint. There’s also the fact that you can run your business from anywhere across the world if this fact doesn’t make e-commerce superb, I don’t know what else is.
Though in the past and even in recent times, there have been a few complaints that what you order for is not usually what you get compared to buying from physical stores where you actually get what you want and it is due to this that lots of online businesses are improving their businesses on a daily basis so as to fulfill the desires of their target audience.
More business opportunities
There are various spinoff businesses from e-commerce. It is a great opportunity to have other businesses running on the side apart from people just shopping on your website.
E-commerce owners can offer logistics services where they deliver goods to people and get paid. they can also offer warehouse services, make money through adverts other businesses place on the website or ad sense google places on the website.
The opportunity is endless, you can decide to put out useful content on your websites like product reviews, product comparisons, or shopping tips and while at it, drive traffic to your sites and earn cool money.
A large market
With e-commerce, you have a large market to pull from. Anyone with internet access has access to your business compared to the physical stores where it is only people within your reach that know your business exists.
Your e-commerce site is a great marketing tool and it also offers the opportunity to broaden your product range, expand your business and in the process increase reach and bring in more customers.
Generally, the emergence of ecommerce in the trading system has stepped up the process of buying and selling because it opened doors to endless possibilities and created a pool of opportunities for business owners.
Due to its convenience, ease and low cost, it encouraged lots of entrepreneurs to start up businesses.
Today, There are lots of businesses online and this continues to create room for development and economic growth.