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

According to MarketLine, the world online retail market expanded by almost 18% in 2010 and is predicted to reach close to $435 billion in sales. The market is expected to reach a 90% growth by 2015 and exceed $827 billion in sales. Listed in an article “Ecommerce Growth Statistics”, the average amount spent by each consumer is expected to rise from $1,207 per year to $1,738 per person by 2016. That is a significant increase. That shows that people prefer to shop online than going to the actual store in today’s society. Shoppers will spend on an average of $327 billion online shopping in 2016, which is about 45% from $226 billion in 2012. It is very evident that consumers will drive ecommerce into the future; especially e-retail. In just a few years, purchases online will be more profitable than ever, with others products and services available to purchase such as mobile and social allowing consumers to shop to their convenience. For retailers and

E-commerce systems E-commerce systems are predicated upon internet use, which provides open and easy communications on a global basis. However, because the internet is unregulated, unmanaged and uncontrolled, it shows a wide range of risks and threats to the systems which are jeopardizing the operation.

Many businesses have shown that after implementing an e-commerce system into their companies, sales have increased immensely. Sneaker Joe’s is a small family run business that is looking to expand their business after the sneakers they sell have shown to be very popular locally, after a picture of them was spotted on a social networking site. I have been looking at some of the most popular websites that consumers use to purchase their goods and what kind of commerce system they have in place, but first, I have written an explanation of the different types of ecommerce used today.

“Modern economies are highly dependent on information systems and networks connected to “cyberspace” a virtual world with a population of several billion and growing.”

Dentzel (2017) in an article highlighted that the use of the Internet has completely transformed the way people live and has revolutionized almost all fundamental aspects of daily life. It has allowed access to limitless information and became a tool that made everyday communication in an instant. Among the many opportunities created by internet is the emergence of electronic commerce (e-Commerce). Online shopping is a development brought by the e-Commerce and progress of internet.

Online commerce was introduced to consumers in the mid-1990’s, and in the years since, it has grown exponentially. It started out virtually nonexistent and has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Nearly every retail sector has entered online commerce; clothing, electronics, home, health and grooming items, even food and groceries are starting to gain traction online. Online commerce sites rival traditional brick and mortar stores such as Walmart and Target, as well as other big-box stores. As online retailers such as Amazon continue to expand, many brick and mortar stores have been making their way online, indicative of an increasing movement towards online commerce. With more than 80% of the online population having made an online

People use interactive Web pages to obtain stock quotes, receive tax information from the Internal Revenue Service, make appointments with a hairdresser, consult a pregnancy planner to determine ovulation dates, conduct election polls, register for a conference, search for old friends, and the list goes on. It is only natural that the Web's functionality, popularity, and ubiquity have made it the seemingly ideal platform for conducting electronic commerce. People can now go online to buy CDs, clothing, concert tickets, and stocks. Several companies, such Digicash, Cybercash, and First Virtual, have sprung up to provide mechanisms for conducting business on the Web. The savings in cost and the convenience of shopping via the Web are incalculable. Whereas most successful computer systems result from careful, methodical planning, followed by hard work, the Web took on a life of its own from the very beginning. The introduction of a common protocol and a friendly graphical user interface was all that was needed to ignite the Internet explosion. The Web's virtues are extolled without end, but its rapid growth and universal adoption have not been without cost. In particular, security was added as an afterthought.

Electronic commerce has been there for a long time now, and it is a practice that is practiced by peoples from Germany, France, and the US on a daily basis. Since its inception around 40 years ago, e-commerce has continued to grow as innovations, technologies and a lot of business reverting to the use of the e-commerce. The aspect of buying and selling of goods in the early 1960s was sluggish with the traditional way of mailing of documents being replaced with the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), which would later pave a way to the electronic commerce. After the e-commerce, however, the practice was not more reliable as it still had many challenges (Tsolis, 2009). For instance, it was not easy for buyers to see products from the comfort of their homes and more so, the methods of accessing the information were limited.

E-commerce is transactions conducted via electronic means such as the internet, email and SMS. It is considered to be one of the most important aspects of the internet to appear. As a result, people are able to exchange goods and services immediately regardless of their geographic location and time. More and more businesses conduct transactions on line, with some trading purely on-line thus reducing overheads and administrative costs.

E-commerce is a product that has been available since the early 90’s. It is something that people are familiar with. A product that is now part and parcel of people’s lives.

Many organizations industriously look for the opportunity to gain the competitive advantages in their industries. One of the opportunities that frequently used by the organization is the implementation of e-commerce. Thus, the e-commerce and the online sale transaction become popular in each industry. E-commerce provides many benefits, such as the saving of shopping time, the cost savings, convenience, and free from geographical constraints.

Ecommerce allows consumers to exchange goods and services electronically with no barriers of time or distance. E-commerce is the marketing, buying and selling of merchandise or services over the Internet. It is currently one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge. It covers a range of different types of businesses, from consumer based retail sites, through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. The biggest advantage of E-Commerce is the ability to provide secure shopping transactions via the internet and coupled with almost instant verification and validation of credit card transactions. The various legal and ethical issues in E-Commerce are discussed

Electronic commerce (E-Commerce) is a term for the process of buying, selling, transferring, or exchanging products, services, or information via computer networks, including the Internet. Today, people frequently buy or exchange goods and services internationally; the barrier between countries has been removed. It is true that E-commerce makes people’s lives more convenient; however, it has also created challenges with online fraud. As this new form of shopping unfolds, consumers weigh the benefits versus the negative aspects of E-Commerce. By examining E-Commerce, the consumer will see that using the online forum

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) over the Internet is the fastest growing method for consumers to conduct business. Less than ten years old and it already has radically altered the potential to economic activities and the social environment. There are nearly 200 million Internet users worldwide currently. Of these 200 million users, roughly 40 percent reside in the United States (Styliano, A., Robbins, S. & Jackson, P., 2003). E-commerce currently affects large sectors such as communications, banking and the retail industry. E-commerce has also had an effect on the education, health and government (Wyckoff, A., & Colecchia A., 1999). It is predicted that commerce on the Internet could total tens of billions of dollars by the turn of the

revenues via e-commerce in the next two to three years (Richter, 48). The core of e-