E-Commerce

Electronic commerce or known as e-commerce is an online transaction which typically done through computer network. It can be divided into three segments which are Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumers (B2C) and Consumers to Consumers (C2C). Examples of e-commerce activities is shown in below image.


Source: www.cleverism.com

Out of five activities shown above I have experience using e-commerce for online shopping, online ticketing, electronics payments and internet banking. In my opinion, virtual auctions is not popular in Malaysia. I have seen some foreign countries websites doing auction but rarely in Malaysia.

By using e-commerce, we do not require a physical office or retail location to do transaction. Thus consumers, buyers, sellers, and businesses do not required to be presence physically in order for transaction to happen. This will save times for both parties because consumers do not need to queue in lines waiting to be serve, do not need to do transaction during office hours only, and do need to walk to browse all the product. On the seller or business side, they do not need to hold a physical store or warehouse for their products, they can reach consumers anywhere, they can save cost of their business, and consumers can browse their product digitally anytime. The business and transaction can be conducted 247!

However, e-commerce also have their disadvantages because the transaction is done online. Thus they have high reliability on the internet. The internet have to be fast, reliable and secure. On top of that, consumers also need to have devises such as laptop or computer to browse the product or proceed with the transaction. There are studies in Malaysia that shown Malaysian are still prefer to buy or shopping a physical product which they can see and touch which give them the feeling and superior experience. If they purchase online, they will need to wait for the product to arrive and only able to see the online catalog or product which is impersonal. Moreover, they are exposed to fraud and credit car thief by exposing their details for transaction. 

I will share my experience using e-commerce for online shopping, online ticketing, electronics payments and internet banking on my next post.

Stay tuned!