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ECOMMERCE TRENDS IN THE
21ST CENTURY
This article examines the
differences between the 21st
century electronic commerce trends and
the direct sales trend that existed in
the 20th century. Firstly,
the trends of development are completely
different. Firstly, let us have a look
at the concept called internet
ecommerce. It means that internet is
used to provide online information
regarding activities and services to
users. Ecommerce refers to the
electronic means of doing business,
mostly on the internet. The traditional
sales channels and shopping will be
moved online. The first electronic
commerce model used in business was EDI
or electronic data interchange. Now we
have different types of ecommerce models
like Business to consumer, business to
business, customer to customer and many
other new models.
The second largest
ecommerce market on earth is China. This
is the reason why development of
ecommerce is a high priority service
here.
Today, people spend most
of their time on the internet performing
various activities such as browsing,
looking for information, looking of some
product or service information,
downloading music or a movie and so on.
The internet has become an indispensable
part of the society today. The founder
of the largest corporation, Microsoft
has said that if a business does not
make its presence felt on the internet
then it will fail miserably. The reason
for this is the importance that the
internet is getting today. Every
businessman has to use the internet to
advertise their business products and
services. The internet has surely
changed our lives; it is more a
necessity now than a luxury in our lives
now. Our future and fate will be decided
by networks and computers because we are
living in the age of computers.
Second, the present
trends work completely different than
the old ones. Ecommerce is a type of
business which can be run from any
where. It can be run from your house or
you may be working, so your ecommerce
business can be run from your office. An
ecommerce business can be run if you
have a computer and an internet
connection. All the business activities
can be managed with it. However, with
direct sales firms, each and every
business activity like gathering,
marketing, exchanging, receiving
payments and selling of products has to
be finished on the ground.
Third, the difference in
time
An Ecommerce business
will be running for 24 hours; whereas
with direct marketing it is not possible
to run it for more than 10 hrs without
paying more.
Fourth, the difference in
cost
Ecommerce is simple,
costs less and very fast. When we start
an ecommerce business we have to only
dedicate energy and time, whereas with
direct sales one has to invest energy,
time and lot of money.
Fifth, development of
various industries
The major advantage of an
ecommerce product is speed. The current
trend in information technology is
represented here. Therefore, this is an
industry that is filled with vitality,
and unlimited potential for growth.
Direct marketing has been
working for over 50 years and is
becoming outdated. |
