Just what is e-commerce … it’s not as straight forward as you’d think. If you’ve tried to Google “Types of E-Commerce” the likelihood is you didn’t get the information you wanted, instead had a bunch of Ads burning your eyes.
On 11th August 1994, a Sting CD was sold online via NetMarket, this created the first business to consumer online purchase, also known as E-Commerce today. Simply put, an E-Commerce store is any website or App which is solely for sales.
The highest-ranking e-Commerce site and App is Amazon, which I’m sure comes as no surprise, there’s just no competition for this selling giant. At the moment Amazon is in a pickle with the media for pushing their own products to the top of the search, and not the actual best result or highest selling product – Whoops. They have also announced that due to the high service charges they’ll no longer be working with Visa Credit – Awks.
After Amazon comes eBay. EBay have more types of E-Commerce sales on the platform which enables them to have a broader variety of goods, including illegal sales which teams work every day to shut down. – Watch out for those!
E-Commerce has opened the world (literally) to sellers and made purchasing easier for consumers (a little too easy for those Friday nights with too much wine and a bank card …) It’s all sellers dream to live in the hands of its consumers, as a consumer is walking down the road, or sitting in a park, they can order anything they want from a store as soon as it pops into their head. Online shopping will not be the death of the Highstreet, the Highstreet just needs to adapt to the challenge (put more free food samples out, good ones.) Some Highstreet stores refused to get with the times, and as good as they were we’ve now said goodbye to them, forever.
Different types of e-commerce transactions.
There are four main types of E-Commerce transactions. Depending on who you are, and who you’re selling to, you’ll fall into one category or another. There’s no best or worst category, they’re purely based on who the seller is, and who they’re selling to, that’s it.
- Business to Business – This is Business to Business transactions. For example, breweries selling to restaurants, pretty straightforward, right?
- Business to Consumer – Here the company will sell their goods and/or services directly to the consumer. Any online shop selling to yourself, like the Lush store.
- Consumer to Consumer – Where the consumers are in direct contact with each other with no company involved. E.G. Vinted, Etsy, eBay…
- Consumer to Business – The reverse of B2C, so for example, a freelancer who sells services or goods to a company. This would be a C2B transaction.
E-Commerce empowering small business.
E-Commerce has enabled people who never thought they’d be able to sell their products to join the sellers’ market, this has created a richer and fairer marketplace across the globe (apart from you MLM & pyramid schemes. You’re both the same thing, and you both suck). Setting up your E-Commerce store doesn’t have to be complicated, if you’re really serious about setting up your own then you can look at E-Commerce site designers who will walk you through the whole process; from idea to live site.
The most popular E-Commerce platform is Shopify. It’s worth checking your e-Commerce designer is a Shopify Partner, they’ll be able to help you get the absolute most from Shopify.
Wix.com is simply the easiest to set up by yourself, there’s 1000’s of templates to choose from, the site takes you through the setup step by step, or if you’re just not feeling creative there’s an option to contact a designer – Boom, whatever you fancy.
Conclusion
Choosing an E-Commerce platform can be tricky, we recommend going straight to the professionals, this is your business, your future, you’re worth the investment in yourself.
The beauty of E-Commerce is that home crafts have come back into our lives, people are unlocking their creative potential again, and in this 9-5 world we need all the arts we can put together.
