The word e-commerce has become a major variable in the commercial world today. The wording itself is used to define the commercial businesses that are conducted through the online portal. Thus e-commerce is the selling or buying of products and services from vendors through the internet. “This is done primarily by transmitting data or funds through an electronic network that is connected to the internet” (Eurostat, 2013). E-commerce can be categorized by the nature of transactions that are conducted online. Many customers have now turned to e-commerce shopping to satisfy their needs which have affected the brick-and-mortar retailers who have not yet adapted to ‘e-tail’ which is retailing online.
Literature review
E-commerce, as discussed above, is co notated as the buying and the selling of products and services through the online portals provided by the internet. “There are various forms of transactions that are conducted online and this has sparked growth in the e-commerce industry” (Eisingerich et al., 2008) The history of the e-commerce has been seen to stretch as far as the year nineteen sixty where the businesses started to use the electronic data interchange to communicate and share documentation between each other. Such companies as the Amazon and e-bay took the opportunity of utilizing the E.D.I. (electronic data interchange) to revolutionalize e-commerce by offering a portal for which the buying and exchanging goods between the many users in the internet system can be conducted.
The sections of this category of business can be summarized in the following types of transactions conducted online. “They are business to business transactions, business to customer transactions, customer to customer transactions and lastly customer to business transactions” (Graham,2008).
The transactions that are conducted online are important today as it signifies among other things, the next revolutionary change in the commercial industry. Commerce in itself has grown from the medieval times where the people participated in what was known as barter trade. “Today, the use of currency shows the advancement of commerce over time” (Delone et al. 2004). The factors that influence commerce as many but the paper will discuss the effects of electronic commerce business towards the businesses on local high streets.
“The use of the internet has opened up a path for many business opportunities to grow” (Tim Berners-Lee, 2012). Such factors as national borders and international barriers have been greatly minimized because of the use of the internet. “Communication has been made easier from one global end to the other signifying a new era of global integration” (Kawa, 2017). These factors stated before are major influences of the e-commerce industry as they constitute its growing economy. As more and more people around the globe are moving towards online shopping to satisfy their needs, the effects of this impact are felt by other industrial players. “Though the use of e-commerce has increased in growth and consequently the economy it factors into, there are negative effects to this movement of the market” ( Eriz, 2011). In the last decade, the shift has been made from the conventional stores and shopping centres that required the physical attendance of the customer to acquire their products or services of choice to e-commerce. The move has culminated in the loss of businesses that rely on sales to thrive thus bringing about job losses and poverty on its part.
Research studies have been at the forefront of advancing this technology as more and more consumers apply and use their online access to purchase products and services. “The recent statistics in our country shows that at least seventy-five per cent of all credit card owners order their products and services online in the year two thousand and seventeen” (Schafer et al., 2001). The literature study done in this paper will be an inclusion of research that pertains to the establishment and the utility of e-commerce as a business tool and how the application has affected the businesses that are situated in the local high streets.
Research Objectives
The topic above, e-Commerce shopping and its effects on businesses in local high streets, is a discussion on the various aspects that electronic commercialization offers. As the paper signifies, online business applications are growing in numbers as the various tools of the internet are made readily available. Below are the objectives set for the research study.
- The first objective is to understand what electronic commercialization is and its progression from its earlier times to modern use in today’s society.
- To specify the different types of online transactions (e-commerce) and explain them in detail and their functions towards e-commerce.
- To share on the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce and lastly,
- To use the local business on high streets as a case study of how e-commerce has affected various types of businesses.
Methodology
The methodology of a research is used to refer to the processes that are used to collect the information being utilized in the research. This will mainly comprise of the theoretical analysis that is established by the structure of the methodology which includes the principles connected with the applications of electronic commerce. The methodology of this paper will include the concepts of paradigms, theoretical works provided by sources that are both primary and secondary in nature. The methodology will also include four phases of discussions centring on the objectives of the study. The methodology will also be qualitative as well as quantitative in nature. These processes offer a building bridge to which the researcher can use to analyze and opine the discussion towards a more product paper.
The methodology processes established in this paper are considered as the best alternative processes of which a valued theoretical understanding may be achieved. The core objective of the paper is to understand the effects of e-commerce on businesses on local high streets. The methodology presented offers the best methods, process and source analysis to accomplish this task.
Conclusion
Electronic commerce has become a part of our daily lives. “More and more consumers have turned to online shopping because of its convenience” (Miller,2002). The primary use of e-commerce as an application is that it provides an avenue for online business to be conducted. These businesses may vary in type and participation. There are a variety of business transactions that are categorized under e-commerce and are mention above in the literature review. The paper is a review of the electronic commerce and its establishment from the early nineteen sixties to its use in today's economy. The paper will also discuss the factors that electronic commerce provide and its effects on the businesses that are localized in the high streets.
References
Eurostat (18 June 2013). "Ecommerce contribution in Europe" (infographic). Retrieved 18 June 2013.
Eisingerich, Andreas B.; Kretschmer, Tobias (March 2008). "In E-Commerce, More is More". Harvard Business Review. 86: 20–21.
Delone, W. H.; Mclean, E. R. (2004). "Measuring e-commerce success: Applying the DeLone & McLean information systems success model". International Journal of Electronic Commerce. 9 (1): 31–47.
Kawa, Arkadiusz (2017). "Fulfillment Service in E-Commerce Logistics". Log forum. 13 (4): 429–438. doi:10.17270/J.LOG.2017.4.4.
Eriz, N (2011). "The impact of e-commerce on international trade and employment". Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 24: 745–753. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.09.010.
"Tim Berners-Lee: WorldWideWeb, the first Web client". W3. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
Schafer, J. Ben; Konstan, Joseph A.; Riedl, John (2001-01-01). Kohavi, Ron; Provost, Foster, eds. Applications of Data Mining to Electronic Commerce. Springer US. pp. 115–153. doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1627-9_6#page-1. ISBN 9781461356486.
Graham, Mark (2008). "Warped Geographies of Development: The Internet and Theories of Economic Development" (PDF). Geography Compass. 2 (3): 771. doi:10.1111/j.1749-8198.2008.00093.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-29.
Miller, Roger (2002). The Legal and E-Commerce Environment Today (hardcover ed.). Thomson Learning. ISBN 0-324-06188-9. 741 pp.
