E-Business / benefits and limitations of E-Business
E-Business / benefits and limitations of E-Business
E-business stands for electronic business. Electronic business is also known as online business. Online business is a business where the transaction takes place online. Here, the buyer and the seller don’t meet personally. The term “e-business” was coined by IBM’s marketing and Internet team in 1996, E-business is a part of e-commerce. E-commerce means electronic commerce.
Types of e-Commerce- Now there are actually many types of e Businesses. It all depends on who the final consumer is. Some of the types. of e-commerce are as follows:
Business-to-Business (B2B)- Transactions that take place between two organizations come under Business to business. Producers and traditional commerce wholesalers typically operate with this type of electronic commerce. Also, it greatly improves the efficiency of companies.
Business-to-Consumer (B2C)- When a consumer buys products from a seller then it is business to consumer transaction. People shopping from Flipkart, Amazon, etc is an example of business to consumer transaction. In such a transaction the final consumer himself is directly buying from the seller.
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)-A consumer selling product or service to another consumer is a consumer to consumer transaction. For example, people put up ads on OLX of the products that they want to sell. C2C type of transactions generally occurs for second-hand products. The website is only the facilitator not the provider of the goods or the service.
Consumer-to-Business (C2B)- In C2B there is a complete reversal of the traditional sense of exchanging goods. This type of e-commerce is very common in crowdsourcing based projects. A large number of individuals make their services or products available for purchase for companies seeking precisely these types of services or products.
Consumer-to-Administration (C2A)- The Consumer-to Administration model encompasses all electronic transactions conducted between individuals and public administration.
Some examples of applications include below:
Education- disseminating information, distance learning, etc. Social Security- through the distribution of information, making payments, etc.
Taxes-filing tax returns, payments, etc. Health-appointments, information about illnesses, payment of health services, etc.
Business-to-Administration (B2A)- This part of e-commerce encompasses all transactions conducted online by companies and public administration or the government and its varies agencies. Also, these types of services have increased considerably in recent years with investments made in e-government.
Advantages of E-Business
There are actually innumerable advantages of e-Business, the most obvious one being the ease of doing business. Some of the major advantages of e-business are as follows:
Easy to Set Up: It is easy to set up an electronic business. You can set up an online business even by sitting at home if you have the required software, à device, and the internet.
Cheaper than Traditional Business- Electronic business is much cheaper than traditional business. The cost taken to set up an e-business is much higher than the cost required to set up a traditional business. Also, the transaction cost is effectively less.
No Geographical Boundaries-There are no geographical boundaries for e-business. Anyone can order anything from anywhere at any time. is one of the benefits of e-business.
This Government Subsidies- Online businesses get benefits from the government as the government is trying to promote digitalization. Flexible Business Hours-Since the internet is always available. E-business breaks down the time barriers that location-based businesses encounter. As long as someone has an Internet connection, you may be able to reach and sell your product or service to these visitors to your business website.
Limitations of e-Business
But it isn’t all good news. E-business does have certain disadvantages when compared to the traditional way of doing business. Some of the limitations of e-business are as follows:
Lack of Personal Touch- E-business lacks the personal touch. One cannot touch or feel the product. So it is difficult for the consumers to check the quality of a product. Also, the human touch is missing as well. In the traditional model, we have contact with the salesperson. This lends it a touch of humanity and credibility. It also builds trust with the customer. An e-Business model will always miss out on such attributes
Delivery Time-The delivery of the products takes time. In traditional business, you get the product as soon as you buy it. But that doesn’t happen in online business. This lag time often discourages customers. However, e-businesses are trying to resolve such issues by promising very limited delivery times. For example, Amazon now assures one-day delivery. This is an improvement but does not resolve the issue completely
Security Issues- There are a lot of people who scam through online business. Also, it is easier for hackers to get your financial details. It has a few security and integrity issues. This also causes distrust among potential customers.
