The introduction of high-speed internet has completely changed the way people lead their lives. We spend most of our time using the internet for study, work, shopping, business, entertainment, and learning purposes. These social and commercial activities are rather connected to the web. Currently, it is simply not possible to think about life without adopting eCommerce.
It can be stated that the importance of eCommerce in daily life is only growing with each passing day. It is rather the demand of nations, businesses, customers, and time. It is also expected to be a compulsion in the coming years. What is the reason behind its growing popularity?
How is it gaining significance across the globe? By 2020, worldwide e-commerce sales will have already crossed 4 trillion dollars. The current COVID-19 pandemic situation has only made people rely more on e-commerce.
Reasons for the growing importance of eCommerce in daily life
1. Lower cost when compared to traditional shopping:
Online selling of services and products is less costly. Offline commerce involves several high overhead costs. Also to be borne recurring expenses like counter costs, store management costs, security costs, inventory costs, shop rent, transportation costs, staff salary, etc. Adopting eCommerce helps do away with these overheads, thus allowing businesses to offer products and services at a low cost.
2. Range of products:
Small towns and villages have limited shopping options. eCommerce does offer them a viable solution to offer those products that are otherwise not available at the nearby brick-and-mortar shops. Moreover, people in these regions can enjoy a variety of items. Thus, eCommerce helps expand traditional commerce boundaries.
3. Exciting shopping deals and offer notifications:
eCommerce has made people living in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities aware of the latest market trends and launches. With communication and eCommerce developing at a fast pace, people even from remote areas can now get seller messages and notifications. They can get discount offers and exciting deals on numerous products and services.
4. Faster consumer consumption and less time-consuming:
Educational eCommerce has completely changed how people consume services and products. Traditionally, learning an offline graphic design course takes about six months. Students are required to study at the center for about 2 to 3 hours. They are to attend the classes at a fixed time. There are chances of teachers not being available to take offline classes. Thus, it takes a good amount of time to develop as well as improve essential skills to enjoy faster employment. However, the introduction of online degree programs/courses has become popular. eCommerce allows students to select their choice of course, time to study, and institute. This way, students can learn at their own pace.
5. Faster business expansion:
Local retailers previously found it tough to expand or sell their products and services across the country or globe. This was mainly due to local competition, market conditions, higher expansion costs, low advertising reach, consumer interests, small brand equity, etc. Such visionaries are now benefiting from eCommerce and can now strive for further expansion. Now it is possible to start an online business from anywhere, including home. Also, operations costs are low while profits earned are high.
6. Transparent business system:
It has become important for developing countries to enhance transparency, especially in commercial activities. This is to do away with corrupt practices at ground zero. Trillions of dollars are being transacted on a daily basis between sellers and buyers for services and goods. Using point-of-sale (POS) machines, UID bank account integration, and digital transactions, helps increase transparency. eCommerce does play a significant role in explaining the seller’s and buyer’s bank account, credit, and debit details.
Checking out the above clearly shows the importance of eCommerce in daily life.
