Electronic Commerce

Abstract

In recent years Electronic Commerce has become quite popular and convenient for many people. Presently it is enjoying rapid growth. Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) has become a Buzzword for business over the past few years, with increased awareness about the use of computer and communication technologies to simplify Business procedure & Increase

efficiency. Electronic Commerce basically describes the process of buying & selling or exchanging of products, services and information via computer network including internet. The present paper makes an attempt to give conceptual framework of ECommerce, benefits associated with it, services offered, challenges faced & its future potentials in India in very simple words. Further this paper highlights the importance of Ecommerce in modern business era. E-Commerce also provides an affordable platform which caters the needs of organizations, merchants and consumers to cut the costs while improving quality of goods & services and increasing the speed of service delivery.

1. Introduction

Internet usage or internet users are increasingly growing up. According to International Telecommunication Union, there are 77% internet users in the developed world and 31% users in the developing world. In totality it constitute 39% people are using internet through out in the world out of 7.1 Billion World’s population in 2013. This year the number of Internet users worldwide reached 2.27 Billion almost exactly twice what it was in 5 years ago, 1.15 Billion in 2008. This tremendous growth created many openings in various spheres of life like electronic data interchange, electronic mail, World Wide Web, internet application, e-marketing-banking etc. In 2010, the United Kingdom had the biggest e-commerce market in the world when measured by the amount spent per capita. The Czech Republic is the European country where ecommerce delivers the biggest contribution to the enterprises´ total revenue. Almost a quarter (24%) of the country’s total turnover is generated via the online channel. Among emerging economies, China's e-commerce presence continues to expand. With 384 million internet users, China's online shopping sales rose to $36.6 billion in 2009 and one of the reasons behind the huge growth has been the improved trust level for shoppers. The Chinese retailers have been able to help consumers feel more comfortable shopping online. China's cross-border ecommerce is also growing rapidly. E-commerce transactions between China and other countries increased 32% to 2.3 trillion Yuan ($375.8 billion) in 2012 and accounted for 9.6% of China's total international trade. Other BRIC countries are witnessing the accelerated growth of e-commerce as well. In Russia, the total ecommerce market is projected to total somewhere between 690 billion rubles ($23 billion) and 900 billion rubles