What is E-Commerce?

Due to its simplistic and easy to access nature shopping online has never been more popular. In 2012 an estimated £50 billion was spent on online shopping in the UK – which accounts for 12% of all UK trade.

Traditional E-Commerce sites are those where companies have products that they wish to trade via the internet. Users would add the products to a virtual basket, visit a checkout to enter their details and then pay via a credit or debit card electronically. The order is then received by the client who sends the products to the user, and receives payment via their bank or merchant system

E-commerce is not limited to selling ‘physical’ products but can be used for a range of services and goods.

• Existing clients can order goods via an online catalogue on account.
• Users can create customised products and have them shipped to their premises.
• Businesses can allow access to information or services on payment by users.
• Users can securely download files or media after payment is made.
• The same products seamlessly offered in different languages to different countries

Why use E-commerce?

E-Commerce is all about supporting your business and adding more depth to your website. Here are just a few of the reasons you should think about using E-Commerce.

Online, hundreds of thousands of product searches take place each day meaning your stock could be viewed thousands of times a day. When these people are searching for these items they are probably looking to buy them and you have to make sure your shop is one of their options.

Another great factor of E-commerce is that it levels the playing field between big outlets and smaller retailers. So even if you are a sole trader or a small business the potential for E-commerce is huge.