The
buying and selling of goods and services online is known as e-commerce.
The Internet has become the main platform for an increasing number of
merchants and customers, as evidenced by an exponentially increasing
number of PayPal and credit/debit card purchases. E-commerce has also
opened up the publishing industry to self-publishing authors with the
digital print-on-demand technology and Amazon.com—a global giant of
online retailers that sells everything from clothing and appliances to
books. Sales of Amazon’s electronic reading device, Kindle, has
soared—along with Kindle edition books. Kindle edition books are now out-selling print books.
E-commerce
spending has become normalized in many countries. Online transactions
are steadily growing worldwide as the technological capabilities of the
Internet bring customers, businesses, independent contractors, and
non-profit organizations together—rapidly eliminating many geographical
obstacles. PayPal is quickly becoming a standard household name in a
growing number of countries worldwide as it enables buyers and sellers
to expedite payment with almost instant currency conversion features. As
the global market matures due to the maturation of national and
continental economies, geographic boundaries will shrink even further.
According to Search Engine Journal,
Google has nearly 74% of the marketshare of online ad revenues. Data
published in eMarketer shows that in 2012, 69.1% of all Internet users
bought and sold online in Great Britain and during that same year, US
retail e-commerce sales surpassed $189 billion—excluding event tickets,
travel bookings, and digital downloads. These numbers in sales volumes
have been steadily
There
has also been a sharp uptick in the sale of mobile phones. Smartphone
sales have increased by 270% in 2010 between the April-June quarter and
the July-September quarter. This is paving the way for growth in the
emerging mobile commerce, or m-commerce, channel of shopping by cell
phone with Internet capabilities.
The
software and web development application platforms used to build online
businesses and the ability to utilize secure payment methods has
expanded the dimensions of e-commerce and the developing of e-commerce sites
has become much easier and more cost-effective. However, online
businesses need to focus attention on customer satisfaction, goodwill,
credible reputation building, and profitability that “brick and mortar”
establishments strive for. Issuing refunds, settling payments,
fulfilling orders, and integrating accounts apply to businesses in the
cyber world of e-commerce as much as to businesses in “real space.”
Once
an e-business has meticulously implemented all of these things, an
e-entrepreneur has a global platform with a wider, faster, and more
far-reaching potential customer base that spans 24 standard time zones
across the world—you can literally do business while you sleep.
The
e-commerce explosion is generating new job and business
opportunities—not only for people who are skilled at online marketing,
but also for web application developers. One such example is the growing
demand for Ruby programmers and the implementation of web applications
using Ruby as the programming language with Rails as the platform. The
ability to collaborate online for completing projects, hosting events,
and the ability to coordinate online with potential customers and offer
customer support plus the emerging demand for people skilled at
trouble-shooting such e-commerce infrastructures are just a few of the
growing opportunities.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services,
social media networks and coordination, political trending, secure
online payment handling with currency conversion, and integrating online
accounts are just a few of the major services that will continue to be
in demand and drive the the growing e-commerce and m-commerce trend.
E-commerce is here to stay.
More
people in the US alone have (or are buying) Smartphones and/or
computers than television sets. A bulletin from the Nielsen ratings
service showed that television ownership has fallen by two points—a
phenomenon that has not happened for the last 20 years. A lot of people
who don’t have television sets are young, wealthy and well-educated.
Nielsen’s Pat McDonough believes that this is due to more people using
the Internet connection and computers and Smartphones as a substitute
for a cable or satellite dish television subscription. The growth in
online entertainment businesses such as Netflix and Hulu and the PC
gaming industry seems to support this. This trend appears to be
following suit in Western Europe and Great Britain as well.
With
buyers becoming more Internet savvy, the outlook for e-commerce and
m-commerce is a very positive one. Online businesses are becoming the
new normal. And sharp entrepreneurs know that this means more than
having a website; it also means being able to deliver what customers
want and expect.
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