E-Commerce



E-Commerce

The advantages of a small online business include cost cutting and a large customer base for the owner of the business. The cost of supplier and distributor is reduced due to the online buying and selling of products. The advertisement and production costs are also eliminated in the ecommerce world because of the online marketing and advertising of the business. A large customer base can be easily adopted through the use of internet for the business. A brand name can be easily created through the use of internet and mass advertising of the product that the business owner intends to sell. It also gives a long lasting image because of the attractiveness of the online business. Customers also face comfort in getting things online and the trend of online shopping is increasing throughout the world. This is a good aspect for the potential small business owners who intend to start their business online using internet as a medium of business (MacGregor & Vrazalic, 2007). Along with several advantages, the online businesses often confronts with real time threats and disadvantages. The threat of identity theft may resist the potential business owners to adopt internet practices for their small businesses. The brand name can be stolen and the small business owner does not have sufficient fund to pay for the legal and court hearings and cases. Therefore, it may become costly businesses for the small business owners. The increasing competition in the market may also provide several difficulties to the small business owners who intend to deal online using internet and e commerce (MacGregor & Vrazalic, 2007).

When the business transforms themselves into online businesses or if a business owner starts an online business then there they face several challenges. The trust of the customers is important to be built in order to progress the business in the online market place. The customers may not know the potential owner of the business who is conducting his or her business online. Therefore, they may not easily trust a business owner of another country or even the same country but with whom they never met. The cultural factors also provide several problems to the business online. The culture and tradition of several customers is different from each other. In online business, the owner of the business is likely to produce a single type of product for the market. The customer base is wide but the target market is not properly defined which may create problems for the marketing of the product. Language factors are important to understand by the small business owner. The customers belongs to various and diversified languages and the language of the marketing and advertising campaigns may not be understandable by all the customers and in this way the owner may lose a big market share. The governmental factors are crucial to the progression of the online business in the marketplace. Some governments may impose several obligations on the owners of online business to carry out their online business in their ...