What exactly is e-commerce and it’s scope?

E-commerce is the buying and selling, marketing, servicing, delivery, and payment of products, services, and information between an interconnected enterprise and its prospects, customers, suppliers, and other business partners via the internet, intranets, extranets, and other networks.

It differs from traditional commerce in that it allows for the electronic exchange of goods, money, and information from computer to computer. There is no longer a need for physical currency or goods to conduct business because everything is done electronically.

E-commerce includes the following functions:

1. Purchasing and selling of goods.
2. Product delivery.
3. Preparation of financial statements

All of these functions are performed without the involvement of a human, which is referred to as the true ‘E’ in e-commerce.

E-Commerce refers to a variety of online business activities that include explaining products or services and providing a mechanism for customers to purchase those products and services from websites or the internet. It also includes online shopping and online purchasing.

E-Commerce Scope

The opportunity for e-commerce growth is enormous. Products can now be purchased online through sites such as Flipkart and Amazon. Everything from gym equipment to laptop computers is now available online in the age of e-commerce. E-commerce is a massive collection of business cases. It includes E-trading, E-Franchising, E-Mailing, E-Engineering, and other related activities. The following are some examples of the scope of e-commerce:

1. Information exchange in the form of digitized data
2. technologically enabled
3. Customer loyalty
4. Accountancy
5. Integration of Suppliers
6. Encourage the exchange

1. Digitized information exchange: Digitized information exchange can represent communications between two parties, coordination of the flow of goods and services, or electronic order transmission. These exchanges can take place between organizations or between individuals.

2. Technology-enabled: E-commerce is about transactions that are enabled by technology. Web browsers are possibly the most well-known of these technologically-enabled customer interfaces. Other interfaces, such as automated teller machines (ATMs), fall under the umbrella of e-commerce. Previously, businesses handled transactions with customers and markets solely through human interaction; now, such transitions can be handled through technology.

3. Customer retention: E-commerce allows organizations to obtain classified and customized market information, which aids in customer retention through quick order fulfillment and effective customer relationship management (CRM). End-to-end supply chain management in e-commerce allows for the overall flow of demand and supply, resulting in profitable customer retention.
4. Accounting: Because of the integrated database, financial accounting, treasury management, and asset management are as good as they get in e-commerce. E-commerce makes financial planning and strategy determination easier.
5. Supplier integration: To reduce inventory-carrying costs and increase material and opportunity availability, suppliers’ networks can be integrated via EDI to implement just-in-time (JIT) inventory management.
6. Facilitate the exchange: E-Commerce encompasses intra- and inter-organizational activities that facilitate the exchange. E-commerce encompasses all intra- and inter-organizational activities conducted electronically that directly or indirectly support marketplace exchange. In this sense, we are discussing a phenomenon that affects both how business organizations interact with external parties such as customers, suppliers, partners, competitors, and markets, as well as how they operate internally in terms of managing activities, processes, and systems.