What is E-Commerce? Types of E-com

In this article, we will focus on e-commerce, which is one of the most important concepts for all businesses that trade goods via the internet. You would find replies to the below questions What is e-commerce? What are E-commerce types? What is the status of e-commerce in Turkey? Future of e-commerce etc.

What is E-Commerce?

E-commerce is a business model that provides companies and people to buy and sell products or services over the internet. It was first used in 1994 by Phil Brandenberger. He made history by buying the album Ten Summoner's Tales by the Sting band. After this shopping, which has made a lot of attention in the world, companies such as Amazon and Alibaba, which are retail giants, have brought a different style to the sector with e-commerce.

E-Commerce Types

Business to customer (B2C)

It is the most known e-commerce type. This market is generally seen in virtual stores that can reach the end-user directly over the web. It provides the opportunity to minimize the time required for marketing affairs, personnel, store rent, and vehicle costs. On the customer side, it eliminates the needs such as time and space in shopping. In addition, it has the advantages of completing the shopping process easily without delay. In general, success in the B2C market is more easily quantified. All kinds of statistics on every good sold and customers will help you find the right way.

Business to Business (B2B)

It is the online platform that provides companies selling their products and services to each other. It's not just that. It allows information exchange and financial transactions between companies. B2B is generally a highly preferred method in the dealership system.

Another function of B2B web pages is to shorten the online commerce process. It is a very difficult process to search for the most suitable companies to trade with millions of companies on the internet. This is where B2B pages come into play, bringing buyers and two sellers together.

B2B sites visibly reduce your costs as they allow us to perform all transactions online in the trading process. But the main way to reduce costs through B2B sites is to use electronic marketing strategies in product or service procurement. Realizing the product or service exchange with companies that offer affordable prices among all options, will reduce the costs of your supply chain at an astonishing rate.

Consumer to Business(C2B) 

In consumer-to-company e-commerce, which is the opposite of the company-to-consumer e-commerce model, consumers sell their goods to companies. This model works differently than traditional trading companies that offer products to consumers. It is possible to find this model mostly in personal blogs or internet forums.

Consumer to Consumer(C2C)

It offers consumers the opportunity to buy and sell online with a third-party intermediary. The third agent usually gets a certain commission from the products sold. Examples of these sites are websites where auctions or second-hand goods are traded.

The Impact of E-Commerce on Employment

It allows employees to do their jobs electronically and allows employers and employees to meet and exchange views electronically. For this reason, it has shifted the environment of employees from a traditional to an electronic environment in terms of working life. With the interest in e-commerce and the expansion of the customer volume, the need for qualified personnel is also increasing.

E-commerce has two different effects on employment. The first impact provides new employment opportunities for new lines of business to emerge. Another effect is the creation of new tasks using e-commerce in existing business areas. In short, it is aimed to reduce the workforce of old companies or newly established e-commerce companies that switch to e-commerce. In addition, employment was negatively impacted in retail trade, travel agencies, and tourism companies.

Status of E-Commerce in Turkey

North America and Asia are the regions that the highest e-commerce volume in the world. These regions also have a large volume in the traditional trade area. They have reached this level thanks to their strong economies. However, the strange thing is that e-commerce is growing faster outside these regions. Turkey has also been found in some countries in recent times gained momentum in most e-commerce.

According to statistics of 2020 compared to the first half of the year last year, e-commerce volume in Turkey increased by 64% to 91 billion 700 million pounds was announced. 60 percent of the total e-commerce is carried out in 3 provinces, it is known that it is distributed as 47 percent Istanbul, 8 percent Ankara and 5 percent İzmir. The sector with the highest spending amount was airlines, followed by the clothing sector.

Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan carried out a support campaign for SMEs in the e-commerce sector. In this way, 3 thousand 761 SMEs were introduced to e-commerce and 1.2 billion Turkish Liras were transferred to SMEs.

The Future of E-Commerce

Digital Consultants 

According to the study of Accenture company, it was seen that 39% of online shoppers could not find what they were looking for and left the site due to too many options. With the advanced filtering facility, the use of methods that will help the customer to make decisions has started to increase. Working with artificial intelligence and machine learning, these digital consultants will continue to develop further.

Real-Time Customization 

Thanks to this application, customer satisfaction is tried to be maximized thanks to the product recommendation suitable for the tastes of the customers. It requires data mining and machine learning to offer a custom product for each customer.

Social Commerce

People spend more money on shopping with friends than on individual purchases. For this reason, companies want to implement social commerce applications to create the same effect online. It allows users with similar tastes to communicate with each other and share their collections. Additionally, according to a study conducted by HubSpot, an inbound marketing and sales platform, 81% of the participants stated that their friends' posts directly affect their purchasing decisions.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

Augmented and virtual reality started to be integrated into e-commerce. However, online shopping will be much easier and more fun when retail companies switch to a three-dimensional product display system instead of two dimensions.

Same-Day Delivery and Drone Delivery

Delivery speed is one of the most important factors influencing the customer's decision to buy a product online or not. Same-day delivery and drone delivery are becoming more attractive to users day by day. According to the research, 33% of e-commerce users are interested in drone delivery. For this reason, it is an effective method in terms of both differentiating and optimizing the delivery time. But there are some questions in the minds of customers about drone delivery. For example, they have hesitations on issues such as theft, damage, and delivery to difficult-to-access areas. There are still no clear answers to these questions.

We hope that article about some key points of e-commerce is useful for you. Please check our blog post that may help you to understand some important topics. Please share your comments and give your valuable feedback.

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