E-Shopping
On-line shopping
is the purchase of products and services over the Internet using a desktop or
laptop of other smart device. With the access of Internet everywhere On-line
shopping is gaining popularity as it is convenient to fast paced life style of
the people these days.
More and more
business firms are offering these opportunities because it also helps them to reduce
the infrastructure costs setting up stores, hiring sales employees and
merchandising. Products such as clothes, shoes, groceries, books and larger
products as furniture and home décor are offered through online shopping.
Benefits
of E-Shopping:
1. Reduces time
for customers as they can do a search from the comfort of their home and compare
prices
2. Reduces major
infrastructure cost to the businesses
3. Helps move
products faster as the products move from manufacturer to the customer skipping
unnecessary storage.
4. Businesses
benefit from immediate funds availability and mostly customers pay for the
product through e-payment online.
Disadvantages
of E shopping:
1. Customers are
not able to touch and feel the products
2. Businesses
have to manage the logistics of delivering products just-in-time
3. The access of
this shopping depends entirely on availability of Internet. This limits a large
population who does not know to use the technology i.e. the remote areas.
4. Businesses
have to continually protect against fraud and returning of the products sold.
There are
several e-shopping portals available worldwide. Some of them are local to a specific
region or country. Some portals provide with a global access. The examples of such
portals are e-bay, amazon etc. In India there are other established e-shopping
portals such as Home Shop 18, Naaptol .com, Yebhi.com etc…
The most
important interface components of E-Shopping portal are:
1. Customer
website interface
2. Order
management and inventory control.
3. Shipment
Interface with various logistics organizations
4. Payment
gateway for financial interface for payment processing
5. Customer
service and support with live agents for complaints and help
E-Shopping has
not only changed the way consumers are shopping for the products but has also
changed how the product moves from manufacturers to the end user. In the
typical store-shopping model, the product moved from manufacturer to
wholesalers to several intermediaries and finally to stores where customer may
buy it. This model had several layers of transportations built in leading to
costs. In the e-shopping model, the E-Shopping portal manages just-in-time
inventory where product is obtained from manufacturer after the customer orders
it from the website. This product is then shipped directly from the warehouse
of the shopping portal provider to customer. This eliminates the intermediary and
hence saves the cost of middleman.
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