E-Commerce - A World of Opportunities for the Small Business Owner

E-commerce is one of the grandest trademarks of the 21st century. By allowing anyone with a credit card to purchase any product - at any time - at the click of a mouse, e-commerce has opened a world full of opportunities for the small business owner and the shopaholic. But e-commerce is not without its apparent flaws. It has the advantage of speed, a variety of products, and a great start up for e-commerce businesses, but product quality, bad businesses, and hackers are its main foibles.

When you break e-commerce down to its bare components, you will find that speed is the fundamental requisite that all sites carry – and the reason that so many people are drawn to it. Take for example the typical choice a holiday shopper has. Christmas is later this month and they need to buy gifts for their friends and maybe an outfit or two for their relatives. They have the choice of going through the blistering cold and driving to the mall, scouring the shelves and clothing racks, waiting in line to checkout, and then driving back home. Or they could pull up a Google shopping search for clothes and gifts and skip to checkout in a minute or so. The speed of e-commerce gives the customer a feeling of control. Why should they drive to the nearest clothes outlet when they can buy their outfits online? And all of these outfits can be bought within seconds. They can buy their entire Christmas list on a single webpage. There is no need to wait in long lines at the store or brave the journey through the snow and ice. All it they have to do is peek through an online catalogue and check out the item of their choice. Then it is shipped to them in a matter of days – and without them leaving the comfort of their own home. The usual shopping process tha...

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...the case that they are, another website will surely have the same item available. According to Roos (2010), “no store, no matter how huge, can match the internet for variety (pg.2)”.

Reference

Biegelman, M. (2009). Identity theft handbook: detection, prevention, and security. (p. 378). Wiley.

Bustos, L. (2009). Every second counts: how website performance impacts shopper behavior. Retrieved

from http://www.getelastic.com/performance/

Milutinovic, V. (2002). E-business and e-challenges. (p. 360). IOS Press.

Roos, D. (2010). Advantages of e-commerce. Retrieved from

http://money.howstuffworks.com/advantages-e-commerce.htm

Singh, V. (2009). Internet and e-mail hacking. (p. 225). Global Media.

The importance of speed in online shopping. (2010, August 17). Retrieved from

http://ignitecommerce.com/2010/08/17/the-importance-of-speed-in-online-shopping/