​What Is e-commerce (Electronic Commerce?

​Electronic commerce or e-commerce (sometimes written as eCommerce) is a business model that lets firms and individuals buy and sell things over the internet. E-commerce operates in all four of the following major market segments:

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• ​Bussines to bussines

• ​Bussines to consumer

• ​Consumer to bussines

• ​Consumer to consumer

​E-commerce, which can be conducted over computers, tablets, or smartphones may be thought of like a digital version of mail-order catalog shopping. Nearly every imaginable product and service is available through e-commerce transactions, including books, music, plane tickets, and financial services such as stock investing and online banking. As such, it is considered a very disruptive technology.

​KEY TAKEAWAYS

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• ​E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet.

• E-commerce can be a substitute for brick-and-mortar stores, though some businesses choose to maintain both.

• Almost anything can be purchased through e-commerce today.

E-commerce lets firms and individuals conduct business over the Internet.

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​The Advantages and Disadvantages of Electronic Commerce

​E-commerce offers consumers the following advantages:

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• Convenience. E-commerce can occur 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• Increased selection. Many stores offer a wider array of products online than they carry in their brick-and-mortar counterparts. And many stores that solely exist online may offer consumers exclusive inventory that is unavailable elsewhere.

E-commerce carries the following disadvantages:

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• ​Limited customer service. If you are shopping online for a computer, you cannot simply ask an employee to demonstrate a particular model's features in person.

• Lack of instant gratification. When you buy an item online, you must wait for it to be shipped to your home or office.

• Inability to touch products. Online images do not necessarily convey the whole story about an item, and so e-commerce purchases can be unsatisfying when the products received do not match consumer expectations.