Advantages and disadvantages of E-commerce websites

 E-commerce websites have many advantages some of them are:

1. Faster buying process - Customers can spend less time shopping for what they want. They can easily browse through many items at a time and buy what they like. When online, customers can find items that are available in physical stores far away from them or not found in their locality.

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2. Cost reduction - One of the biggest advantages of ecommerce to business that keep sellers interested in online selling is cost reduction. Many sellers have to pay lots to maintain their physical store. They may need to pay extra up front costs like rent, repairs, store design, inventory etc. In many cases, even after investing in services, stock, maintenance and workforce, sellers don’t receive desired profits and ROI.

3. Store and product listing creation - A product listing is what the customer sees when they search for an item. This is one advantage in ecommerce meant for the seller. This online business plus point is that you can personalise your product listing after creating them. The best part? Creating a listing takes very little time, all you require is your product name or codes like EAN, UPC, ISBN or ASIN.

Sellers can add many images, a description, product category, price, shipping fee and delivery date. So, in just one step you can tell the customer many things about the item. Creating your listing shows the buyers what you have.

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4. Affordable advertising and marketing  - Sellers don’t have to spend a lot of money to promote their items. The world of ecommerce has several affordable, quick ways to market online. Ecommerce marketplaces are visual channels – and sellers can really show off their product. For example, Amazon sellers can use Advertising tools to add videos, infographics, good quality resolution images.

One can add life to plain, boring text using DIY features to create customised deals, coupons, A+ content and sponsored ads. Many ecommerce marketplaces offer customer insight tools that can be used to analyse customers. Usually, this is a page that shows all orders – pending, unshipped, sent, cancelled, returns.

5. Flexibility for customers - 

An important advantage of ecommerce to business is that sellers can provide flexibility to customers. One highlight is that the product and services are ready 24x7. The result is that seller can offer his item any place, any time.

Customers are always present on an ecommerce marketplace - They are likely to return for repeat purchases online because of the conveniences they get. These conveniences include free shipping (usually on a minimum cart value), express order delivery, deals and discounts, subscription advantages.

They also share reviews on the things they buy. Good reviews result in two extra benefits of ecommerce. One is that buyers gain trust in your store based on the number of positive reviews. The other is that it can help you identify your best-selling items.

Sellers can leverage this customer flexibility to build their revenue. They can sell on an online marketplace confidently knowing that there are plenty of buyers.

 

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6. No reach limitations - In ecommerce, sellers can compare the products using tools or on their own. This gives them a good idea of product alternatives available, the standard rates, if a product need is unfulfilled.

Comparison is faster online and covers many products - It helps to save time when making this comparison, as all details are available on the shopping site. In a physical store, sellers may not be able get access to so many details –they only have better knowledge about their own inventory.

This is one more benefit for the customer too. When people see many items ready for purchase, they feel more confident about spending.

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7. Product and price comparison - A seller with a physical store may only be able to reach a certain number of buyers. They can deliver to the customers’ homes but there can be distance limitations. Several e-commerce marketplaces have their own logistics and delivery system.

Reaching out to more customers - Sellers that need to expand their reach to find new customers can benefit from this. This applies to online-only sellers and those with a physical store.

Online-only sellers can save on the logistics costs and be rest assured of customers. Sellers with a physical store begin selling their goods to local buyers.

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8. Faster response to buyer/market demands - Every interaction is faster when you begin selling online. Ecommerce marketplaces offer you a streamlined logistics or delivery system. What this means is that the buyers order gets delivered efficiently. Product returns management is one more plus point that can be handled quickly – you either refund the payments or give a replacement.

Speedily actions can even be applied when responding to market demands. Think of this ecommerce example - when a buyer sees that an item is out of stock, he can click on the ‘Notify Me’ option. This informs him when that item is available for sale again. It also informs sellers that they need to restock that item so they can get more buyers.

9. Several payment modes - Buyers like personalisation – the same goes for paying for their orders. Ecommerce marketplaces permit multiple payment modes that include UPI, cash on delivery, card on delivery, net banking, EMIs on credit or debit card and pay-later credit facility.

Cart recovery – This is one huge benefit or ecommerce. Sometimes a buyer reaches the checkout page but doesn’t complete the purchase. Here, you can notify customers via phone messages, email to finish buying.

There is a catch – Customers can only use one type of payment mode per order. This choice is affected by the order value, ease of payment or availability of cash or card. In some cases, payment modes can be merged with a dedicated wallet amount.

What this means for sellers is that they no longer have to lose a potential sale opportunity due to lack of available payment modes.

10. Enables easy exports - E-commerce exports assists sellers to directly sell to international customers in global marketplaces, allowing them to transcend beyond national boundaries and expand abroad. With e-commerce, sellers don’t have to invest in a physical setup to reach customers. Instead, they can use attractive product listing and acquire new customers internationally with ease. For aspiring entrepreneurs and growing businesses, e-commerce exports can be a very profitable model to adapt for global expansion and increased revenue.

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However there are also some disadvantages

1. Concerns about privacy and security

2. Lack of inshore engagement with customers 

3. The added cost of operating and online store

References: 

(https://sell.amazon.in/. 2023. 9 Major Advantages of Ecommerce to Businesses in 2022 | Seller Blog. [ONLINE] Available at: https://sell.amazon.in/seller-blog/advantages-of-ecommerce. [Accessed 17 January 2023].)

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