E-commerce Impact on Businesses During COVID-19 Pandemic

This report discusses the importance of e-commerce, its development, technological platforms and software, and its effectiveness as a business tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also covers the relationship between digital technology and e-commerce and its impact on businesses. The report includes subject, course code, course name, and college/university.

Digital Business & New
Technologies

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Importance of E-commerce.........................................................................................................1
How topic is developed...............................................................................................................2
Detail description of technology and what it is used for ............................................................2
Technological Platform and software ........................................................................................3
What type of business and organisation uses the technology.....................................................3
How it is used as business tool and its effectiveness .................................................................4
Relationship of digital technology with E-commerce ................................................................4
References:.......................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
The digital business take usage of technology for creating new values in corporate
models, customer experiences and internal capabilities which supports main operations. It
involves both digital brand and traditional players which are converting their business with
digital technologies. In present times, peoples spends more online which emphasises business to
shift on digital sources for revenue and digital channels. The growth in digital economy makes
people familiar regarding digital products and services that drive companies to pursue new
competitive benefits in digital space. The digital technology is an electronic tool, system, devices
and resources by which data and information can be processed, stored and generated (Adhikary,
and et.al., 2021). It involves social media, mobile phones, etc. The report is based on E-
commerce which is defined as online activity that involves buying and selling of products and
services. This helps business in conducting business transactions online. The report will cover
importance of E-commerce, how it is developed, comprising detail description of technology and
platforms and states how it is effective. Further it discusses, how it is related to content and
relationship between digital technologies. Moreover it covers old and newly emerging theories of
business & management structures and practices.
MAIN BODY
Importance of E-commerce
This term mainly referred as internet commerce where the buying and selling activity of
goods and services is performed and money is transferred. I t draws on technologies such as
mobile commerce, electronic fund transfer, supply chain management, online transaction
processing and many more. For the business strategy it is becoming vital component in emerging
global economy (Bukhtoyarova, 2022). The continuous expansion of e-commerce is leading
downward pressures on inflation by increasing competition, cost savings and changes in sellers
pricing behaviour. Following are the importance of E-commerce-
 Reduction in cost- Through E-commerce the different companies operates online which
shows all of its products which helps in saving cost in terms of internet , electricity,
purchasing etc.
 Global business- For the business e-commerce is important as they can sale the product
anywhere in world and do not requires to travel and individual see what to offer. The
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running of physical store is limited to geographical area but owing website of E-
commerce provides opportunity to increase outreach and around the whole world
products & services can be offered to customers that helps business to go global.
 Expansion of business- The e-commerce is important in expanding business by broaden
the range of products and services for sale, bringing more custom, and diversifying sales.
The online store of e commerce helps business to reach customers and online business
can be managed from home. This is helpful for both B2C ans B2B for increasing brand
awareness in market (Gruber, h., 2019).
 Better marketing opportunities- Ecommerce is mostly known for marketing tools that
allow anyone to market through online tools like social media marketing, email
marketing, search engine marketing and many more. This offers better marketing
opportunities to engage with customers and build trust through reviews and ratings.
How topic is developed
The e-commerce originated in standard for exchange of business documents like order or
invoices among supplier and business customer. This term was first employed by Dr. Robert
Jacobson an enacted in 1984. It was system of ordering goods primarily through telex. The most
of E-commerce shifted to internet with the wide adoption of Internet and establishment of WWW
in 1991. The e commerce affected tare life of everyone and how it is being operated by business
& governments (Hsieh, 2019). This is conducted in electronic marketplace and supply chain
works on internet-web. It helped many business in their growth with help of new technologies,
improvements in internet connection. The history of E-commerce stated over 40 years ago,
where earlier technology like electronic interchange and teleshopping was introduced in 1970s.
The first E-commerce site was used by Amazon in US for selling products online.
Detail description of technology and what it is used for
E-commerce relies on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer,
supply chain management, internet marketing, and automated data collection systems. Modern
electronic e-commerce uses the WWW, which encompasses a wide range of technologies such as
email, social media and mobile devices, etc. The e- commerce sites needs technologies of
artificial intelligence which helps in revealing insights into customer preferences. Chatboxes for
customer satisfaction rates and to business it offers 24/7 assistance by responding to queries and
sends shipping & tracking information through fully automated communication with resource of
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artificial intelligence. This helps in interacting with customers through online chat and helps in
customer retention. The recommendation system is one of the effective E-commerce technology
resource for attracting, conversion and customer retention. It take use of data analysis for
composing smart virtual showcase. The windows work in more autonomous way and even more
personalised for each customer (Nazarenko, and et.al., 2022). The use of big data is increasing in
online universe as it has dealing with huge amount of data which cannot be processed by
ordinary computers. In e-commerce it is valuable as interaction of each data & consumer helps in
understanding buying journey and enables creating more assertive strategies in business.
Technological Platform and software
The E-commerce platform defines to an software application in which both parties seller
and consumer play their role together. The e-commerce platform is used consumer for
discovering products, shop around using cart and check out. There are mainly three types of E-
commerce platform and software which are as follows -
Software-as-a- service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-service (PaaS)- This offers the solution
through software and then hardwrae is added which becomes PaaS. Both helpsn in delivering
online solutions to business through internet. The SaaS platforms like shopify that involve only
software. It is best for small companies which offers professional setup and support.
On-premises platform- It is hosted locally by retailer and IT staff manages rather than being set
up by another provider and accessed through cloud. It allows company to have more control over
E-commerce site (Ravikumar, and et.al., 2022).
In market the most popular E-commerce platform are Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento,
WooCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and Volusion and many more. These platform is
used by several business for meeting their needs.
What type of business and organisation uses the technology
To have successful business the companies heavily relies on technology for
communication, productivity and for tracking purpose. This drives and sustains the business
operations. He platform such as Shopify anf Woo Commerce is designed specially for e-
commerce store fronts. This platform have its own theme and involve services which helps in
managing the business of e-commerce. Options exist for customers ranging in size from small
businesses to large corporations. Various organizations utilize e-commerce platforms by
incorporating online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay. The other e-commerce platform is
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SaaS, where store owners can subscribe to rental space. Vendors offering ecommerce platform
services for clients hosting their own online stores include Magento, BigCommerce, Oracle
SuiteCommerce, etc. The Amazon is an largest online retailer and have growth contentiously.
The company launched its business with E-commerce based model for online selling and
delivery of products (Roscoe, and et.al., 2019). With the help of E-commerce websites it allows
in buying and selling goods and services online.
How it is used as business tool and its effectiveness
The E-commerce is used as business tool as it helps in attracting e-commerce traffic on
websites which is used by many organisation in online market place such as Amazon, Walmart.
This helps in building online store and offers secure way for processing sales. The E-commerce
is powered by internet which involves more than one party for the exchange of data and currency
for processing transaction. The E-commerce helps business in gaining and establishing wide
market presence by offering cheap and more effective channels of distribution for its products
and services. The use of E-commerce offer convenience and increase selection to consumers for
products purchase. The site of E-commerce runs quickly which is identified by compute and
bandwidth by considering both consumer device and e-commerce sites. The e-commerce is cost
effective than traditional commerce as it does not take help of third person or party for the
product sale which helps in saving money and can be invested for the betterment if business.
Relationship of digital technology with E-commerce
The e-commerce is an functional aspect for product selling online, managing supply
chains, processing transactions and payments are collected. The digital technology represents
people, technology and data driven procedure which elevates retail to whole new level
(Sharonov, 2019). The digital commerce comprises content management, data interrogation and
analytics, user designs, customer engagement and retention. The digital platforms are used for
marketing the product and services and e-commerce take service of online by using internet in
which product can be B2B or B2C. The both take use of internet and other digital platforms.
Models of E-commerce in business and management
It encompasses of all online marketplace which helps in connecting buyer and seller and
takes use of internet for processing all electronic transactions. To run business first thing is
decided on type of business transactions that have several ways of doing online transactions.
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 B2B- business to business Ecommerce- It have focus on offering products from
one business to another. These companies have custom business ecommerce platforms
that work right with other industries in a closed environment. A B2B e-commerce
business usually entails more start-up capital (Tagarev, and yanakiev, 2020).
 B2C- business to consumer E-commerce- It is a deep market where the sales
take through offline also. This is an traditional retail model in which business sells to
individuals along with this conduct through online in oppose to physical store. It sells to
end user.
 C2C- consumer to consumer E-commerce – The website of E-commerce allows
consumers to trade, buy and sell items for the exchange of small commission that paid to
site. This needs careful planning. Example-ebay.
 C2B- consumer to business e-commerce- This is an another model which thinks
of growth. The online commerce business takes place when customer sells goods and
services and equivalent to sole proprietorship that is serving to larger business (Van esch,
and black, 2019).
Conclusion
From the above report it concluded that digital business and new technologies are important
for any organisation to have success and growth in long run. With the effective use of
technology, the company can increase their revenue and sales which helps in customer retention
and products are offered on time according to customer needs and choices. The digital business
is creation of new designs of business by clouding digital and physical worlds. The digital
transformation entails by considering in what way products, processes and organisation can
change with use of new, digital technologies. Now most of the companies offer their products
and services online and offline to customer by taking use of ecommerce platform. E-commerce
empowers consumers through internet which helps them in communicating with clients by
offering information on new products and entire sales. The e-commerce provides better services
to customer and 24/7 online facility and easier way for gaining customers by search engine
visibility.
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References:
Books and Journals
Adhikary, and et.al., 2021. how does the adoption of digital payment technologies influence
unorganized retailers’ performance? an investigation in an emerging market. journal of
the academy of marketing science, 49(5), pp.882-902.
Bukhtoyarova, 2022. the need to introduce digital technologies in logistics companies.
in proceedings of the international scientific conference “smart nations: global trends in
the digital economy” (pp. 395-401). springer, cham.
Gruber, h., 2019. proposals for a digital industrial policy for europe. telecommunications
policy, 43(2), pp.116-127.
Hsieh, 2019. entrepreneurship through the platform strategy in the digital era: insights and
research opportunities. computers in human behavior, 95, pp.315-323.
Nazarenko, and et.al., 2022. applying digital technologies in technology roadmapping to
overcome individual biased assessments. technovation, 110, p.102364.
Ravikumar, and et.al., 2022. technologies driving digital payments in india: present and future.
in proceedings of second international conference on sustainable expert systems (pp.
71-78). springer, singapore.
Roscoe, and et.al., 2019. the microfoundations of an operational capability in digital
manufacturing. journal of operations management, 65(8), pp.774-793.
Sharonov, 2019. a business nature of security activity in the Russian federation within
application of information and digital technologies of property relations. in ubiquitous
computing and the internet of things: prerequisites for the development of ict (pp. 371-
378). springer, cham.
Tagarev, and yanakiev, 2020, may. business models of collaborative networked organisations:
implications for cybersecurity collaboration. in 2020 ieee 11th international conference
on dependable systems, services and technologies (dessert) (pp. 431-438). ieee.
Van esch, and black, 2019. factors that influence new generation candidates to engage with and
complete digital, ai-enabled recruiting. business horizons, 62(6), pp.729-739.
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