This year 2020 has greeted us with an unwanted surprise: the existence of a pandemic, which has become so dangerous that has declared an international public health emergency, therefore the WHO has requested that measures be carried out to reduce contagion, including preventive isolation which opens doors to e-commerce in the pandemic
Due to this, many people, companies and businesses have been affected in different ways: personally and at work. Regarding work, companies have had to resort to very drastic measures such as reducing hours, stopping productivity, firing personnel, etc., thus causing a decrease in the sale of their products and consequently monetary loss.
However, despite this situation and that some companies have begun to decline, others have chosen to take advantage of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) at this time, specifically the implementation of e-commerce, which has gradually increased in these last months, thus being a good opportunity not to stop producing.
What is e-commerce?
E-commerce or electronic commerce is not something new, and surely you have already used some of these sites in recent years, since they have become very popular. E-commerce could be defined as a system used to buy and sell anything from a service to an item, all without leaving your home or office, only through the use of the Internet.
How is e-commerce carried out?
The eCommerce can be done from email exchanges, catalogs, digital platforms, etc. Currently the use of platforms is the most common for e-commerce, of the best known we can mention names such as Alibaba, Gearbest, Amazon, Ebay, Claro shop, Mercadolibre, Linio, etc., whose e-commerce services is not only the marketing of their own products, they also offer infrastructure rental for vendors outside of that company.
On the other hand, there are companies that, in addition to having a physical store where they market various products, offer this service as an extra to their customers, thereby granting exclusive offers, discounts, promotions, etc., to name a few, are large supermarket chains. such as: Sears, Liverpool, Walmart, etc.
Advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce
E-commerce in the pandemic is a type of marketing that is growing exponentially and that each day has more users, so it is vitally important to know the advantages and disadvantages it offers. Among the advantages are:
- Accessibility hours 24 hours a day: e-commerce in the pandemic is a really good option because anywhere, anytime you can continue selling your products, as long as you have inventory.
- Unlimited geographic sale area (national and international sales): sales of your products or services can be found anywhere in the world.
- The maintenance cost is much lower than in any traditional business: in many cases the payment costs of a physical office are reduced.
- The client saves time when searching and making purchases.
- It offers the possibility of making comparisons of products and prices more quickly.
- There are different types of payments which are always insured: this refers to the use of intermediary platforms for making payments such as Paypal, Mercadopago, or the same banking institutions, which are increasingly adapting to this type of business.
Among the disadvantages of e-commerce are:
- The competition is greater, since any person or company that wants to can start this type of commerce.
- Sometimes the delivery logistics costs can be very high even if the product is small.
- There is mistrust on the part of some customers because they prefer to see their products in physical or do not like online payments.
- There is a risk that the merchant or the customer suffers from phishing attacks, this would require a time of teaching the customer on how to make purchases safely.
- Delivery times can be long: this mainly occurs when the necessary infrastructure is not available to cover that part.
Conclusion
The pandemic that nowadays afflicts the entire world, has brought with it many losses for people, companies and businesses, due to the fact that their sales have decreased and even stopped completely due to the preventive isolation and forced closure that the authorities have decreed for different business. This is where e-commerce comes in as an opportunity to continue producing and obtaining resources without leaving home and exposing yourself to contagion.The use of the Internet and e-commerce is nothing new, it is something that has been part of people’s daily life for quite some time, however, due to the situation we are experiencing, in recent days electronic commerce has It has taken much more strength and has become a fundamental ally for the distribution and supply of various types of items, as well as becoming a way of continuing life from isolation.E-commerce is the indisputable proof that the answer is in the digital world, and it is now more than ever when businesses must be more flexible, in order to obtain greater confidence and to capture more and more customers, giving them the benefit of this type of purchases, while they manage to take advantage as sellers to strengthen their business.
