eCommerce is the act of electronically buying or selling goods over the Internet or via online resources over any virtual platform. ECommerce is basically a combination of computer technology, the internet, and business, enabling businesses to directly sell their products and services to the end-users without involving any physical store. It has become a lucrative career option for many because it does not require any brick-and-mortar shop to start an online business. The online store only needs a domain name and an online shopping cart to start earning profits.
There are various types of eCommerce platforms available on the internet. eBay and Amazon are two of the most popular sites, which have become the epicenter of selling goods over the Internet with their vast sales platforms. The advantages of selling via these sites are that customers can purchase goods from anywhere around the globe, and there are no geographical boundaries to reach out to the customers. This has made these portals the most preferred business models, including selling and buying products online.
eCommerce started as an offshoot of the retail industry. Its offshoots such as ‘amicable and ‘intranet shopping carts’ were developed to provide a robust eCommerce solution to the retail market. The developments heavily influenced these eCommerce platforms in information technology and computer science, and they were hugely popular during the mid-1990s. The emergence of the internet services such as the World Wide Web and e-commerce websites paved the way for the expansion of eCommerce websites. Later on, major offshoots of the retail industry started venturing into the realm of eCommerce also.
Most eCommerce sites today are heavily dependent on the popularity of Facebook and Twitter. Retailers find it easy to interact with their customers via these social networking platforms, free and have millions of users. These platforms allow customers to share their experiences on any subject and offer them a platform to voice their opinions. Since these platforms are open to the public, millions of people access them every day, which drastically increased the reach of eCommerce websites. Another reason why eCommerce websites have found Facebook and Twitter appealing is that unlike eBooks or other media, these social networking sites are easy to monetize and do not cost much for a company to put up.
eBay is considered to be one of the most popular sites for auctioning goods and services. Its wide global user base is one reason why this online marketplace is popular among all kinds of online businesses. Online auctions have become a craze among teenagers and young professionals who want to invest a small amount of money in an item that will increase in value over a period of time. Businesses often use eBay to introduce new products to their targeted markets and attract them to their websites. Many small businesses have profited a lot from this simple online shopping option.
eBay emerged as a direct payment gateway (DGH) because of the fierce competition in the online market. It did not have the search engines such as Google and Yahoo, so it needed a way of getting its site known to people without too many advertising costs. To do this, it used a payment gateway service. This service provider allowed eCommerce websites to accept payments from buyers and sellers worldwide without handling international currency conversion or having an in-house payment processing system. This made it easy for small businesses to penetrate the market and reach many potential customers.
The success of online auctions led to the rise of affiliate marketing programs. Affiliate marketing programs allow business owners to bring in customers through their own website. Affiliate marketers use eCommerce websites to display products and services affiliated with and attract possible customers by offering a commission for every successful order. A successful online auction may have a high bounce rate; however, if a small business owner follows the proven guidelines in using affiliate marketing programs, his or her site will be able to increase sales and revenue.
Finally, eCommerce websites based on the shopping cart concept need to secure safe and secure payment transactions. For a customer to make a purchase, the buyer should complete the payment transaction online by providing a credit card number sent through a secure gateway by the seller to the payment gateway. Go Now to allow your business to offer a fully functional eCommerce website to many potential clients. However, securing the payment transactions can be a difficult issue for eCommerce owners. For this reason, some eCommerce businesses choose to implement secure payment gateways that require the submission of security codes to ensure the safety of buyers and sellers.