Business Case Studies
Posted 22 Jul 2019, Editor's Desk
Introduction
India is the 3rd largest E-commerce market in the world after China and the United States of America, and in the next few years, e-commerce marketplace in india is set to surpass that of the USA.
What is E-commerce and How it Grows
It is the most innovative way of doing business without
establishing any physical store around the world. It has seamless potential to “expand
your business as swiftly as never before”.
E-commerce marketplace is an online platform to sell products to customers all over the world without any physical barrier around
the clock.
It not only increases your sales but reduces cost drastically.
It helps you in:
With more and more people coming on an online platform,
your presence on the internet “builds a healthy relationship with customers”,
which imbibes trust among them towards your products and services.
2: Windfall Gain of New Customers
In the traditional business model, only selected people,
who know you personally or who reside in the vicinity, purchase from your shop,
while on the online market platform “the whole world is your market”.
Today, anybody can purchase your product from any corner
of the world on figure tips.
3: Saving on Operational Cost
Here, the whole business is built on “web management system”
with automatic inventory calculators, which “saves your cost on manpower”.
Now, you don’t need teller, accountant, and office
building to accommodate your business.
4: Data-Driven Selling
In the traditional business model, you are unable to understand
the needs of your customers.
However, in the online market place, you can understand the buying habits of your customers through data-driven traffic.
5: Digital Branding is Fast and Cost Effective
As compared to TV, Radio, Print adds, digital branding is
fast and cost-effective.
You just need to “develop your digital marketing team” to
beat big brands.
6: Digital Sales Pitching vs. Physical Sales Pitching
There is a greater chance of human error in the sales
mechanism of the traditional business model; while in digital sales pitching
you can give perfect information without any error.
The online platform provides an opportunity to “showcase
products with unlimited details and visual presentation”.
7: Re-Marketing and Re-Targeting in a Boundary Less Market
It’s a barrier-free market where a person can visit
anytime, anywhere even if he/she doesn’t intend to purchase a product.
The online market place is so efficient that even if a
customer doesn’t purchase your product, you can “re-market” and “re-target”
your products to that particular customer through various Google tools and
increase your visibility.
But it is not possible at physical stores.
8: 24/7 Potential Real Income
A physical shop cannot remain open for 24 hours, while
the digital platform is available 24 x 7, where customers can buy products any
time from any place.
9: International Profitable Scalability
You can expand your business seamlessly at lightning
speed across the globe through an E-commerce marketplace.
You can increase your profit as you can decide your
margin and scale-up it without opening a physical store.
10: Affordable Employees and Affordable IT Infrastructure
The online market place doesn’t need an actual office as it
can be operated from a virtual office.
You can engage people from any corner of the country
through a virtual office, without investing heavily on salary, office and
administrative cost.
11: Fast Order Processing Despite Huge
Market Place
A physical store has limited capacity to accommodate
customers at a single point of time, but in E-commerce, you can attend any
number of customers simultaneously.
Moreover, people have the tendency to purchase from big
market place instead of a small physical store with limited choices.
1: Site Crash
Due to technical problems and external attacks, your
website can break down anytime during a transaction, which may affect your
business and customer base.
2: Customers can’t try before they buy
Before buying a product, a customer wants to try it
physically which is impossible on an online platform.
This problem can be resolved by showcasing your product
through graphical and visual presentation.
3: Customer can be Impatient if there is Limited Information
At a physical store, customer can ask as many questions
as he wants to know about a product before buying, which has been a shortcoming
of the online marketplace.
4: Shipping Delays can be Irritating
Many times online market place suffers a delay in
shipping due to the logistic process or unavailability of products which leads
to a decrease in customer satisfaction.
5: Constantly Upkeep Technology and Inventory
An E-commerce marketplace should have constant
up-gradation of software to make the shopping experience more smooth and
convenient.
6: High Competition, Low Margin, and Marketplace Fee
Many times you need to decrease your margin profit due to
high competition. You also have to pay a fee to marketplace on the sale of
products.
7: Limited Control in Other's House
Here, you have little control over e-commerce
marketplace services as your products are sold by someone else’s platform.