Although we cannot compare traditional commerce with e-commerce or ecommerce, the truth is that e-commerce has infinite advantages over traditional commerce. Both for the seller or company and the buyer or user of the service.
The truth is that the advent of e-commerce has been one of the biggest revolutions in recent years. And, although there have already been other forms of telematic sales (through the catalog, telephone, etc.), nothing is comparable to e-commerce for the purchase and sale of goods and services. Electropolis is an online platform that thrives day by day.
In Spain alone, according to opinionesespana.es, 7 out of 10 Internet users already make online purchases, which represents a total of 20 million people. And Spain is not the country with the highest penetration of e-commerce. This gives us a clear answer to how thriving e-commerce is today.
Top Advantages of E-Commerce
If we have to think about the first benefits of e-commerce, we can think of many more benefits than 10, but the most relevant would be the following:
- International sales – In a traditional store, we can only sell to people who visit our store. While in an online store, the possibilities are endless.
- Show your products better – Good photos, at a good angle and with the right camera, can turn a mediocre product into a quality product.
- Personalized user experience – Thanks to the big data we can know in advance a lot of data about our potential buyers, which will make the purchase completely customized according to their interests, with an impeccable digital experience.
- Flexibility to make payments – Currently, online stores offer various forms of payment to facilitate the user’s purchase: Paypal, bank transfer, credit card, installments
- Faster growth – With almost endless possibilities in the online world, business growth can take place much faster than when compared to the growth options we have in the offline world.
The benefits of e-commerce for companies
As mentioned earlier, the benefits of e-commerce can be divided between benefits for companies andbenefits for consumers. Based on the advantages for companies, we can list the following:
- Cost reduction
- Better knowledge of the customer
- Organic growth
- 24/7 presence
As far as the buyer is concerned, some of the advantages for the e-commerce consumer would be the following:
- Greater competition
- Without leaving home
- Information
- Discretion and security
Disadvantages of e-commerce
As expected, all that shines is not gold. E-commerce also has disadvantages. But the truth is that some of the disadvantages are consumer benefits and vice versa. Let’s see the thorniest:
- The competition is much higher
- Although less and less, there are still people who do not want to buy a product that they have not seen physically.
- On the other hand, many shoppers are still reluctant to make payments online.
- A serious problem for small e-commerce is the price of shipping costs
- You must take into account the security of the website, to avoid possible hacks.