Some pointers that help understand the working of E commerce

Posted by: claynekeegan on February 1, 2012 Under: Ecommerce |

To explain how e commerce works is not that difficult a task. The exchange of goods and / or services electronically is known as E commerce.

When you buy something from eBay, Amazon.com or any online store, you’ve participated in e commerce. You also participate in e commerce by downloading music from sites like Napster or iTunes. Knowledge of the different types of e commerce from the start will facilitate better understanding.

B2B: E commerce was founded with B2B or business-to-business e commerce as its cornerstone. In the 1960s, information and files were being shared and transferred electronically by banks and other businesses. Due to lack of a standard for conducting this business, all businesses could not successfully transfer with each other. Thus the sharing of files and information was restricted. B2B e commerce really came into being, when a steadfast standard was set up in the 80s. All were following a uniform technique, which facilitated an easy exchange of files.

C2C: Consumer-to-consumer or C2C has gained popularity with the masses and is widely used by many today. Purchasing anything online from another person via an ad posting on an electronic board or an online auction, instead of a business makes you a participant of consumer to consumer e commerce. Online auctions are the most popular form of consumer-to-consumer e commerce till date eBay is a massive auction site which allows anyone to put their goods online for sale to the highest bidder.

P2P: The use of Napster for sharing files free of cost gave rise to P2P or peer-to-peer e commerce. Don’t be surprised if you see several such websites and file-sharing programs and systems online.

B2C: It is impossible to explain the working of e commerce without mentioning the huge amount of e commerce that takes places from business-to-consumer. An electronic download or an item that needs to be shipped, if purchased by anyone at an online store or website, is considered as e commerce. Working of e commerce can be easily explained if you keep in mind the following things.

The definition of e commerce includes the online exchange of at least one of the following: Information, Money, Goods / Services. While explaining how e commerce works in one’s favor, use concepts that are easy to understand. If you wish to purchase a book, for example, it is not too hard to locate numerous online bookstores and use them to compare its prices to determine the lowest one. While narrowing down to the store which will ship the book to you at the earliest and charge you the lowest cost, it is essential that you compare the shipping costs and shipping times of different providers.

This can be accomplished without standing in a queue, fighting a crowd, or spending money on travel. The fact that you can compare and shop for small as well as large items is just one of the advantages that e commerce offers you. There is no doubt that we can explain the benefits of e commerce, but you will see its advantages yourself once you have actually purchased an item this way.