E-Commerce in Today's Competitive Environment - Example

E-commerce E-commerce is Likely to Succeed in Todays Competitive Environment Outline E-commerce is Likely to Succeed in Todays Competitive Environment Introduction: It performs similar tasks to predecessors but only faster and cheaper. The likelihood of success is best viewed from perspective of what businesses and consumers gain. This view is described through the B2C, B2B, B2B2C, C2C and C2B2C business models. Overview: E-commerce is driven by globalisation The popularity of e-commerce is seen through the increased use of technology such as tablets and smartphones. Increased internet speed and bandwidth also favour continued use of e-commerce. Programmers have facilitated use of e-commerce by packing it in portable applications. Advantages include personalised services to consumers and improved management of supply chain. There is intensified price competition without expenses such as store maintenance. B2C Online retail that reaches masses and provides interface to products Contents tailored to suit specific markets. Online availability of information eliminates need of physically going to stores. B2B Links businesses with common interests. Do not overinvest. Take advantage of competitors’ weaknesses. Automated communication matches shortages and surpluses. Automated communication minimises errors. B2B2C Emerging model to support B2C Cuts unnecessary costs Uses application links to provide online catalogs. Flexible, fast, secure. Integrate catalogues Deep, wide, high. C2C Direct online interaction of consumers Facilitating company charges fee Easy revenue. C2B2C Commerce between consumers with business intermediary. Intermediary posts online inventory. Growth of E-Commerce Official statistics E-commerce alongside other business forms Conclusion Main points from body of essay. Introduction Electronic commerce or e-commerce performs similar functions to its predecessor, the electronic data interface, which had been in existence for over three decades earlier as well as the brick-and-mortar fashion of conducting business. The key differences are that e-commerce performs the functions in real-time as opposed to batch processing and only costs a fraction of the previous technology (Rodriguez, 2009). Further, e-commerce has capabilities that will aid in its success in the current competitive environment and they include transmitting unlimited types of data and in large volumes via a non-proprietary, open network. Viewed from the perspective of what businesses and consumers can gain from e-commerce, which include enhanced benefits in supply chains, lower transaction charges and improved efficiencies in the markets e-commerce is likely to succeed in today’s competitive market (Egol, Rajagopalan & Sayer, 2012). In fact, it is the very competitive nature of the business environment that will ensure the survival and success of e-commerce. With reference to the Business to Consumer, Business to Business, Business to Business to Consumer, Consumer to Consumer and Consumer to Business to Consumer models (B2C, B2B, B2B2C, C2C and C2B2C respectively) this paper will support this likelihood of success. Overview of E-Commerce Globalisation and technological advances are the key drivers of e-commerce (Ghadami, Aghaie & Mohammadkhan, 2010). The continued and growing use of the internet by people as well as the technological advances as seen in smartphones and tablets has offered e-commerce its best chance of success in the current competitive environment. Further, as internet communication realises higher speed and increases in bandwidth, the viability of e-commerce is also getting more established. Hence, the possible success of e-commerce is best viewed from the effects it has and will continue having on businesses and consumers (Rodriguez, 2009). Modern-day users prefer e-commerce and multimedia packaged as a user-friendly yet powerful application that can drive business to success. On the other hand, programmers also act facilitators of the success of the concept of e-commerce by packaging it in portable applications that can run on numerous platforms without proprietary rights or modifications, further enhancing the appeal of mobile business. Among the advantages of using the e-commerce platform to bring businesses to the internet and websites is that consumers can receive highly personalised services whereas the supply chain management is improved (Laudon & Guercio, 2014). Both of these are ways of gaining competitive advantage by innovating and automating business activities. As theorised by economists, e-commerce has the ability to lead to intensified competition in process since the ability of consumers to collect information on product and services is increased. Therefore, for businesses that price their products and services favourably, they gain advantage over their competitors without necessarily incurring expenses related to maintaining stores. E-Commerce and the B2C Business Model This is also known as online retail. Through e-commerce, businesses are able to provide their customers with a direct interface to their products and services. They are also able to grow customer bases and, consequently, revenue (Egol, Rajagopalan & Sayer, 2012). In a typical business environment, it is common to find many organisations dealing in the same products and services but they are faced with the challenge of either a limited or choosy market. However, since the quality of life for consumers is founded on the availability of reliable information that can be availed via stable networks, businesses can use the concept to create a competitive advantage. E-commerce, therefore, will enable businesses to access wider demographics that would not be as easily accessible via traditional stores. Through e-commerce, businesses can tailor their content for specific markets regardless of geographical boundaries. Businesses can tell themselves apart from their competitors by customising consumer information. For instance, the period immediately following the 2008 financial crisis saw less spending as consumers’ access to credit was limited and expenditure consumption reduced (Laudon & Guercio, 2014). However, by taking businesses to consumers by providing them with an interface that is readily and cheaply available is a way of not only reviving consumption expenditure but also working towards the success of e-commerce. This can be in the form of product overviews, innovative deals for consumers and comparison tables through which consumers can make more informed choices. When all this is availed online, hence eliminating the need of consumers physically moving through retailers and checking catalogues, the success of e-commerce is made more possible by the continued use (Rodriguez, 2009). In that sense, consumer spending and the viability of e-comer are mutually beneficial to each other in the competitive environment. This is made even more significant by the fact that constructing and establishing a physical retail outlet costs much more than it does to create a website through which goods and services can be sold and even payments made. In a pure e-commerce environment, the businesses have a competitive advantage over traditional traders in that they eliminate costs associated with store maintenance. Essentially, it becomes easier to reach masses of consumers through e-commerce while creating competitive trends by offering them wider varieties at lower prices (Chopra, Dougan & Taylor, 2005). E-Commerce and B2B Business Model E-commerce has played a significant role in the interactions between businesses since the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis began. Although it is not recommended that businesses rush to overinvest in e-commerce, it is recommended that they do not entirely drop all e-commerce initiatives. Rather, it will be prudent for senior executives to take advantage of what their competitors are overlooking and develop on such areas (Rodriguez, 2009). The ability of e-commerce to speed up communication and also make it easier reduces costs drastically. The advanced technology it presents also enables businesses to move inventories faster and more efficiently. To create comparative advantage, businesses can form new relationships with geographically diverse partners without establishing physical premises but remain linked in real time via e-commerce. The essence is, for so long as there is a practical application of e-commerce, such as the need for companies to remain linked for common interests and ward off competition, e-commerce will always have a possibility of success. Presently, such applications abound and they include integrating the supply chain, selling goods and services to other businesses via the internet, and facilitating transactions between businesses (Laudon & Guercio, 2014). The key value seen in this form of transaction that facilitates the continuity of e-commerce is the better matching of shortages and surpluses. Since communication is also automated by e-commerce applications, business processes are streamlined and errors reduced. Further, especially for start-ups, there will be more benefits realised than for businesses already running legacy EDI systems. This is because the small start-ups will be going directly from conducting transactions via fax, telephone and paper to online business that is of a smaller scale that the established businesses will need to upgrade to. From this perspective, it can be seen that since the number of start-ups is not going down, especially on the global platform, e-commerce will still remain applicable with credible chances of success (Rodriguez, 2009). E-Commerce and B2B2C Business Model As an emerging e-commerce model, B2B2C fundamentally uses the success of B2B to scaffold businesses that are trying to enhance B2C and reduce unnecessary costs. Essentially, this model develops applications that link online catalogs an ensure flexibility, speed and security in availing them to consumers, which is also another way that ensures the success of e-commerce (Egol, Rajagopalan & Sayer, 2012). This is achieved by developing products that grow profits for B2C organisations through the integration of inventories from manufacturers to distributors. From this perspective, the success of e-commerce in the competitive environment is defined by its ability to gain depth and displace traditional manufacturing processes; gain width and encompass the services and products of different businesses; gain height and acquire business requirements in interactive and intelligent ways so that businesses are able to provide customers with customised products and services. E-Commerce and C2C Business Model As an emerging model, the C2C entails consumers carrying out the activities of commerce via the internet amongst themselves without the direct involvement of business organisations (Chopra, Dougan & Taylor, 2005). However, the organisation that facilitates the transaction, for example E-bay, still needs a non-traditional means of compensation, which is mostly in the form of a percentage of the transaction. This affords the facilitating company relatively easy streams of income which means the concept will be enhanced. E-Commerce and C2B2C Business Model Consumers in this model carry out commercial activities with other consumers but business organisations assume the role of intermediaries in the virtual space. The websites provided through such intermediary roles facilitate transactions but also provide inventories of their own to consumers, for example www.tradecarview.com, which brings together used car sellers and buyers (Egol, Rajagopalan & Sayer, 2012). This model also affords the facilitating companies easy streams of income. The Growth of E-Commerce According to the US Commerce Department, in the second quarter of 2013 e-commerce sales in the nation totaled over $64 billion, which was an 18.5% growth from the same period the previous year (Laudon & Guercio, 2014). The department also points out that this statistics, which are the highest since the period immediately preceding the 2008 financial crisis, are also the same as those of that period in 2007. This represents a growth, and essentially success, of e-commerce in the competitive environment. Therefore, e-commerce remains vital and relevant to businesses and consumers as confidence in the internet and web-based activities grow. Apart from these models, e-commerce can exist and succeed either on its own or adopted alongside other business forms. For instance, a business can start up by launching a website without having existed previously as a firm. E-commerce can also be adopted by existing companies that opt to include an online site to enhance the running of business (Egol, Rajagopalan & Sayer, 2012). Conclusion It has been shown that the success of e-commerce in the competitive environment can be seen when viewed from the perspective of what it can do for businesses and consumers especially in the advent of globalisation. It presents opportunities for easy access to each other via the internet for both businesses and consumers while reducing costs of investment and operations. The development of secure payment platforms over the internet also propagates the use of e-commerce as the need of actual travel to stores is eliminated. Its potential capability of closing the digital divide among diverse economies as portrayed by the various business models is a manifestation of its success and continued use as it can also realise global equality as the economy globalises. While businesses are able to reach and advertise to masses of consumers regardless of distance and geographical location, consumers are also provided with access to wide choices of products and services as well as comparison charts. The consumers can also get highly customised and personalised services from the comfort of their offices and homes. It can, therefore, be concluded that all the benefits businesses and consumers get from e-commerce will ensure that it succeeds in the competitive environment. References Chopra, S., Dougan, D., & Taylor, G. (2005). E-commerce opportunities. Supply chain management review, 4(3), 50-58. Egol, M., Rajagopalan, A., & Sayer, B. (2012). E-commerce and consumer goods. London: PWC. Ghadami, F., Aghaie, A., & Mohammadkhan, M. (2010). The impact of financial crisis on B2C e-commerce. iBusiness, 2(2), 193-200. Laudon, K., & Guercio, C. (2014). E-commerce: Business, technology, society. New York: Pearson. Rodriguez, S. (2009). Economic climate shifts consumers online. Los Angeles: PriceGrabber Inc. Read More