Problems Faced Electronic Payment - Essay Example

? E-commerce essay Problems faced by the s and vendors in making electronic payment Electronic commerce has facilitated and makes the task ofpurchasing goods and services much easier. The customers are not required to visit the physical stores and purchase goods and services. The difficulties faced in the traditional shopping medium has been solved and mitigated by the electronic commerce to a wide extent. Now-a-days customers purchase the required goods and services from online shopping sites and make payment accordingly. This task of purchasing goods and making payment can be performed within minutes with the help of electronic commerce. However, the mode of electronic commerce also brings and invites many kinds of problems both for the customers and vendors. Some of such problems faced by dot-com companies are listed under: Technical problems This is one of the significant problem faced on the part of both customers and vendors in making payment through online sites. The technical problems develop a kind of resistance among both customers and vendors in using e-commerce sites for purchasing goods and services. Some of the common technical problems faced by the customers and vendors relate to system failure, case of amount debited twice, late processing of payments, failure to provide notifications, etc. All these technical issues and problems have been faced by the companies in real sense. For instance, in the year 2012, around 12 million NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland have faced the freezing issue of their salaried accounts. The technical fault and problem has resulted the computer system to freeze the salaried accounts unnecessarily (Bidgoli 20-25). This case of freezing of salaried accounts prevented the large customer base from making online payment through their salary accounts. Likewise, system failure and late processing of payments also prevents the customers from getting up-to-date balance and payment status. In some instances, it has also been noticed that customers are fined for late payment due to the system failure or any other technical difficulty. The technical problem relates to failure of the system to show updated payment status also creates difficulty for vendors in forwarding the request of debiting or crediting accounts. It is due to reason that vendors can direct the banking channels to debit or credit the customer account on the basis of latest updated information of their accounts. But, system failure and technical problems creates difficulty for the vendors in assessing and tracking updated status and proceeding payment accordingly. Difficulty related to payment providers The wide popularity and emergence of large number of e-commerce sites have also increased proportion of payment providers simultaneously. The availability of large number of payment providers created difficulty for the vendors and customers in selecting appropriate and authentic payment provider. There are various cases demonstrating fraudulent payment done by service suppliers. The instances of fraudulent cases pose a question on the trust and authenticity of payment providers. The world of e-commerce has also witnessed the difficulty faced by the vendors and customers in cancelling the transaction and processing payment remittance. The cancellation of transaction by the mutual agreement of customers and vendors also made the issue unsolved for many days. It happens due to long time taken by the payment providers in forwarding the payment back to the customers. This practice of payment providers of forwarding payment with excessive delay spoiled the trust and authenticity of online payment mechanism. It has also been identified that vendors and customers need to install multi-currency support system in order to receive and pay the amount in different currencies. The multi-currency support mechanism requires the customers and vendors to purchase and install expensive accounting packages in their system. The installation of multi-currency support system entails large cost for both customers and vendors. (Leinbach and Capineri 30-60). Reasons or factors causing frustration to customers in online sites The internet has evolved online shopping sites as a new and enhanced platform of purchasing and communicating with customers. The online shopping sites enable the customers to search the information related to the products and services in a much easier manner. It offers new and unique methods of communication and varied forms of transactions to the customers. On the other hand, websites and e-commerce platform is also associated with some negative outcomes causing frustration among customers and as well as vendors. The frustration caused by the online sites and e-commerce transactions also create negative impact on customer satisfaction level and forces them to adopt another shopping channel. Some of such frustrating elements affecting customer satisfaction level negatively has been identified and listed under the following sub-headings: Site layout, usability and information The most common frustrating elements incurred during shopping from online sites are identified in form of site layout, usability and information. The site layout, usability and information are the essential elements of online shopping sites and facilitate customers to purchase products and services. The site layout of some shopping sites is quite confusing that customers failed to come across the available products and services. The failure or difficulty faced by the customers in searching and viewing required products and services discourage him and lead to switch over to another sites. Usability and information has been identified as another elements causing frustration among customers. Most of the shopping sites failed to provide a usable and friendly interactive interface allowing customers to gain maximum possible information and quench their searching needs. Slow speed and messaging errors The online sites are associated with the slow internet speed and displaying error messaging and thus annoy and frustrate customers. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that around 147 million customers in the United Stated use the internet on a regular basis. The growing number of internet users act as a motivating and encouraging factor for many companies to adopt internet as a purchasing and selling platform for their goods and services. The motivation and encouragement of the companies has been impacted negatively by the speed of internet. It has been identified that internet users suffered from the problem of displaying of wrong or error messaging, unnecessary pop-up advertising, slow loading of pages, information unavailability and so on. Frustrating and annoyance is predicable action in the midst of such problems (Leinbach and Capineri 40-70). Lack of testing and evaluating product quality The online sites have simplified the task of shopping and saves enormous amount of time and energy spent in traditional shopping medium. The customers in the online sites can only test the product quality through its appearance and image. The difficulty and hardships in testing product quality creates confusion in the minds of customers and lead them to shift towards traditional shopping medium through physical shops and stores. It is well known fact that product quality holds vital importance in encouraging and motivating customers towards purchasing any product and service. This element of product testing and evaluation is completely absent in the online sites and thus creates doubts among customers minds. However, some shopping sites also provide provision of money back in case where customers seem dissatisfied with the purchased products and services. The process of money back is associated with lot of hardships and difficulties developing frustrations among customers in adopting medium of online shopping sites. All such weaknesses or limitation of online sites identified in form of frustrating elements creates negative impression in the minds of customers and impairs communication framework. There is need of immediate and effective management of such variable deteriorating satisfaction level of customers. The marketers and strategist need to focus and resolve the situation with immediate effect otherwise negative state of customer satisfaction can result in purchase postponement or withdrawal from market (Leinbach and Capineri 30-60). Problems arises in ordering supplies in e-commerce from the perspective of supply chain management Supply chain management includes framework whereby two or more than two organisations are interlinked with each other through the flow of products, services, materials, finances, etc. The framework of supply chain management holds more significance in case of business-to-business transactions. It is due to reason that flow of products, services, materials and finances are concerned primarily with business organisations. Supply chain management depends on sound relationships and activities among business firms in order to ensure smooth flow of materials, products, services, finances, etc. The relationships among business firms are becoming more complex and interdependent in supply chain management. The integrated and closer relationships among business firms determine the success and efficiency of supply chain management process. E-commerce has brought a new revolution and paradigm in the supply chain management. The business organisations are not required to establish physical contact among themselves in order to facilitate the flow of materials, products, services, and finances. The business organisations can contact each other with the help of online platform and can procure required supplies. The most essential requirement of B2B transactions in supply chain management is the availability of fast and instant information. The enhanced visibility of information facilitates B2B transactions and encourages business firms to participate and interact through online sites. Most importantly, ordering of supplies also depends upon the availability and visibility of information presented on the online sites. In spite of the importance of the increased information visibility, e-commerce sites failed to provide information appearing visible and viable to business organisations. The lack of information visibility and viability creates difficulty for business organisation in ordering and procuring required supplies from the suppliers within specified time and effort. On the other hand, difficulties in ordering supplies within specified time deter suppliers from obtaining products and services on their terms and conditions. They also failed to gain cost advantage that would be available in case of physical shopping (Leinbach and Capineri 30-60). Information uncertainty is another predicable problem arises in e-commerce transactions. Information on the online sites often suffers from the problem of certainty and reliability. It is due to reason that information is not updated regularly by the suppliers. The lack of information updation creates difficulty for the business organisations in arriving at purchase decision. Moreover, information uncertainty issues also deter the suppliers from trusting on the available information. The online information is not considered as trustworthy and reliable which has been identified as one of major problem in online transactions. Difficulties and issues related to advertising products and services in the electronic market place Electronic market place often suffers from the criticism that products and services easily lost among millions of other related offerings. This criticism holds vital importance and seems profound in today’s business environment. It is due to the fact that electronic market place has been flooded with the products and services of various companies. The electronic market place offers a fast and cost effective method of purchasing and selling products and services. The characteristics of fast and cost effectiveness of electronic market place encouraged the business organisations to display their offerings through online medium (Khosrow-Pour 55-70). The fear of loss of products and services in the electronic market place increased the complexity of advertising. The complexities of electronic market place have made the advertising task or function more difficult. The advertising task cannot be performed with the easiness and quickness as it is done in traditional marketing. The advertisements displayed in the electronic market place should be capable of developing interest and enthusiasm among target audience apart from generating awareness about products and services. Another difficulty related to advertising products in electronic market place is the uniformity exists in the advertising strategy of business organisations. The manner and approach of internet advertising remains more or less similar in every organisation irrespective of the nature and characteristics of products and services. The life of internet advertising is also quite short as compared to traditional advertising. Besides, traditional mode of advertising proves more effective as it target to large customer base. On the other hand, internet advertising is limited or confined only to the internet users making frequent and regular visits to the websites. However, there is increase in the number of business organisations integrating web as a means of advertising. Websites are being visualized as an improved and enhanced form of communication. It is also worth saying that organisations need to improve quality and approach of website advertising in order to gain distinct place in consumers’ minds. References Bidgoli, Hitt. Handbook of Information Security, Key Concepts, Infrastructure, Standards, and Protocols. UK: John Wiley and Sons, 2006. Khosrow-Pour. Michael. Emerging Trends and Challenges in Information Technology Management: 2006 Information Resources Management Association International Conference, Washington, DC, USA, May 21-24, 2006, Volume 1. UK: John Wiley and Sons, 2006. Leinbach and Capineri. Globalized Freight Transport: Intermodality, E-Commerce, Logistics and Sustainability. US:Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007. Read More