E-commerce: How Digital Technology Drives Business Success

This report provides a comprehensive overview of e-commerce and its reliance on digital technologies for business success. It highlights the importance of e-commerce in reducing business costs, expanding market reach, and offering better marketing opportunities. The development of e-commerce from its origins to the present day is discussed, along with its applications in various business functions such as sales, marketing, and banking. The report also explores different technological platforms and software used in e-commerce, including Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce, and examines the types of business organizations that leverage e-commerce, such as B2B, B2C, C2C, and C2B models. Finally, it assesses the effectiveness of e-commerce as a business tool, emphasizing its role in enhancing productivity, profitability, and overall business performance.

Digital technology and
business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Importance of chosen topic..........................................................................................................3
Development of the topic.............................................................................................................4
Discussion of the technology and its use in business..................................................................5
Technological platforms and Software........................................................................................5
Types of business organisations that use the technology............................................................6
Effectiveness of technology as business tool...............................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The concept of digital technologies plays a vital role in providing significant aspects of
life of an individual or a business in the modern era. These are the electronic tools, devices,
systems as well as resources that create, store and process the information. Within this report, the
chosen topic is E-commerce that is taken into consideration for demonstrating different aspects
of this report. This report includes various aspects of the chosen topic including its importance
and development (Aleksandrova, Vasiliev and Letuchev, 2018). There will also be a discussion
of the given technology along with its use in business in order to bring effectiveness within
workplace. Moreover, different technological platforms as well as software will also going to be
described within this report. Furthermore, there will be an explanation on the effectiveness of the
technology as a business tool that helps in the business growth and success.
MAIN BODY
In this report, Ecommerce is chosen as a topic and is defined as the process of buying as
well as selling of the products and services or transferring the data and funds over an electronic
network. The technology of ecommerce facilitates a business in connecting with a large number
of people throughout the world. Such types of business transactions occur either in the form of
business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business.
Ecommerce is powered through internet where the market share can access an online store in
order to browse by, and place orders for goods and services from their own devices.
Importance of chosen topic
In context to business, ecommerce provides organisation a wide number of opportunities from
the marketing opportunities in order to increase the range of products for generating more sales
operations (Boojihawon and Ngoasong, 2018). The importance of Ecommerce is given as
follows:
 Reduces business cost: In order to access an online store, it is not essential for a business
to have all its products shown in a physical space. It is a major importance of ecommerce
that it eliminates the requirement of physical stores and helps company in increasing its
market share.
 Helps in business expansion: Another importance of ecommerce is that this technology
allows a business in putting its goods for the purpose of sale anywhere within the world.

This technology will help the organisation through offering its products and services all
over the world, irrespective of time zone as well as distance. In this way, it assists the
business through giving opportunities for extending its outreach.
 Offers better marketing opportunities: The technology of ecommerce is considered as
the best and effective marketing tool in the modern era (Frizzo-Barker and et.al., 2020).
Online tools such as email marketing, social media marketing, pay per click
advertisements can be very useful for a business in building important links and contacts.
 Expand brand value: It is another importance of ecommerce that it helps in creating a
visual image regarding the business in the eyes of the potential customers and also
facilitates it in creating deep associations with the market share.
 Easier and more convenient: The lives of people are hectic as getting to a physical store
takes a lot of time as well as efforts. Therefore, the technology of ecommerce helps an
organisation to get fit into busy lives of the customers through creating products they
want accessible at the time when they want.
Development of the topic
Ecommerce has been originated in a standard for the exchange of the business information and
documents like invoices or orders among the suppliers as well as their business market-base.
Those origins date to the year 1948-49 Berlin blockade and along with it airlift with a system of
ordering products mainly through Telex (E-commerce: The Past, Present, and Future, 2022).
The history of ecommerce starts with the development of the telephone at the end of previous
century Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is broadly viewed as the starting of ecommerce as the
networking of business communities as well as digitalisation of business information. Most of
the large companies have been spending in development of EDI since the sixties. This has not
received reasonable acceptance until the eighties and with that, the meaning of electronic
commerce has changed over the past 30 years. The development of ecommerce was supposed to
replace the fax and mail as it created data exchange possible through the system of digital
transfer without the requirement of human intervention. In the year 1979, an English inventor
was credited with the developing of the concept of online shopping (E-Commerce, 2022). After
the year 1991, the whole world saw the first secure online purchases and in 1992, one of the first
ecommerce sites was opened by Charles M. Stack, namely, Book Stacks Unlimited. In the year

1995, ecommerce particularly with crucial advancements and development in technology coming
a hot and in this year, two websites put online shopping on the map for good.
Discussion of the technology and its use in business
Ecommerce occurs in the daily life of an individual when a seller or a buyer uses the services of
internet in order to conduct the business transactions. The technology of ecommerce makes it
possible for each person to buy or sell anything practically through online mode. This technology
uses the internet as well as the web for the commercial transactions that crucially include the
value exchange throughout the world (Hartley and Sawaya, 2019). There are a large number of
objectives of the ecommerce and one of the most significant objectives is that it helps in
developing business relationships across the global world.
Within business, the use of ecommerce helps the sellers in selling their products and
services and it also facilitates the industries in buying the raw materials, components and many
more. Customers can purchase differentiated products and services from various manufacturers
through the technology of ecommerce. Another use of ecommerce within the business is that in
the banking sector, it gives the facilities of Net banking, virtual banking as well as internet
banking. These are referred to automated delivery of new along with traditional banking services
through interactive and electronic channels of communication. Electronic payments are playing a
crucial role in the process of export as well as import and the technology of ecommerce has
simplified the business of import and export. By making use of the ecommerce technology,
importers can raise enquiries regarding the products, manufacturers, quality, price and other
aspects. Exporters can also raise their enquiries regarding the suitable market share and the
payments can be made through electronic mode that includes the process of digitalisation such as
internet money transfer or internet payment.
Technological platforms and Software
Technological platforms refer to the foundation in order to build and run various applications of
business. These platforms permit users in running their applications in a smooth way and without
worrying regarding the technology that facilitates them (Kumar and et.al., 2020). A modern
platform of technology crucially involves analytics, data management as well as database tools
for the development, integration and extension of applications and technologies such as Machine
Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things. Technological platforms have been
around for the decades but now there is a rapid shift towards intelligent and cloud technologies

that has elevated their significance. There are various software that are used in ecommerce and
some of the most polular economic platforms include Magento, Shopify, BigCommerce,
Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Wix, Volusion and Big Cartel. There are also different
technologies that are used in ecommerce and these technologies consist of electronic funds
transfer, mobile ecommerce, supply chain management, online transaction processing, internet
marketing, inventory management systems, electronic data interchange and automated data
collection systems (Love and Matthews, 2019). Shopify is considered as the “biggie” of
ecommerce platforms and is the most popular in the English speaking world as well as caters to
businesses of each size. All these ecommerce software and technological platforms are the
backend of the online store of business. These technological platforms and software helps in
empowering the managers of business in easily creating a website in order to sell the products
and services of the organisation, manage the inventory, accepting as well as processing the
payments along with handling fulfilment.
Types of business organisations that use the technology
There are four main traditional types of ecommerce business and these include Business-to-
Business, Business-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Business and Consumer-to-Consumer. There are
multiple organisations that are using ecommerce technology and these companies involve
Amazon, Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd., Grofers India Pvt. Ltd., Nykaa E-Retail Pvt. Ltd., Zomato
Ltd., Just Dial Ltd., Byjus and many more. Within B2B, there is a trade among two or more
businesses or companies and channels of such trade normally consist of conventional
wholesalers as well as producers that are dealing with their retailers. Dropbox is an example of
B2B ecommerce business. B2C deals with the retail aspects of the e-commerce like selling goods
and services to the end consumer through digitalisation. Amazon is an example of B2C
ecommerce company. C2C is leveraged by a customer in order to sell used goods and services to
the other market share through the means of digital (Luz Martín‐Peña, Díaz‐Garrid and Sánchez‐
López, 2018). An example of C2C ecommerce business includes Ebay. The C2B model provides
the final consumers with an opportunity in order to sell the products and services to the
companies. For instance, Google Adsense is considered as a C2B ecommerce business.
Effectiveness of technology as business tool
As a business tool, the technology of Ecommerce facilitates an organisation in expanding its
business operations and sales volume. It also facilitates the companies in increasing the level of

productivity as well as profitability within the business. The effectiveness of ecommerce
technology includes a lot of advantages that are provided to the businesses while conducting
their business transactions through ecommerce technology. One of the biggest effectiveness of
ecommerce technology as a business tool is that those organisations that are keeping their sellers
interested in the process of online selling helps in reducing the cost of business. Many of the
sellers have to pay a lot in order to maintain their physical stores and may need to pay in extra
front costs such as repairs, rent, design and many more (Reis and et.al., 2018). The technology of
ecommerce is an affordable advertising as well as marketing in which the business does not has
to invest a large amount of money while promoting their products and services to their potential
market share. The world of ecommerce technology has multiple affordable and quick approaches
to market the goods and services of an organisation through online mode (Urbach and Röglinger,
2019). A business with only a physical store can reach to a certain number of customers only but
various marketplaces of ecommerce have their own logistics as well as delivery systems. In such
way, the technology of ecommerce is an effective business tool that helps an organisation in
enhancing its business performance and profitability.
CONCLUSION
From above explanation of the report, it has been concluded that digital technologies play
a crucial role within a business organisation in marketing the products and services of the
company. Within this report, the topic of Ecommerce has been chosen in order to demonstrate
different aspects of this report. Importance of ecommerce technology has been discussed and
along with it, the development of respective technology has also been described in this report.
Moreover, there has been a discussion on the technology and its use in business has been
described within this report. Along with it different technological platforms and software have
been mentioned in relation to the ecommerce that helps a business in reaching out to the
maximum number of customers and maintaining efficiency within the business. Furthermore,
types of business that use the technology of ecommerce has been discussed along with its
effectiveness as a business tool that facilitated the companies in improving their business
performance.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aleksandrova, S. V., Vasiliev, V. A. and Letuchev, G. M., 2018, September. Digital technology
and quality management. In 2018 IEEE International Conference" Quality Management,
Transport and Information Security, Information Technologies"(IT&QM&IS) (pp. 18-
21). IEEE.
Boojihawon, D. K. and Ngoasong, Z. M., 2018. Emerging digital business models in developing
economies: The case of Cameroon. Strategic Change. 27(2). pp.129-137.
Frizzo-Barker and et.al., 2020. Blockchain as a disruptive technology for business: A systematic
review. International Journal of Information Management. 51. p.102029.
Hartley, J. L. and Sawaya, W. J., 2019. Tortoise, not the hare: Digital transformation of supply
chain business processes. Business Horizons. 62(6). pp.707-715.
Kumar and et.al., 2020. Digital mediation in business-to-business marketing: A bibliometric
analysis. Industrial Marketing Management. 85. pp.126-140.
Love, P. E. and Matthews, J., 2019. The ‘how’of benefits management for digital technology:
From engineering to asset management. Automation in Construction. 107. p.102930.
Luz Martín‐Peña, M., Díaz‐Garrido, E. and Sánchez‐López, J. M., 2018. The digitalization and
servitization of manufacturing: A review on digital business models. Strategic Change.
27(2). pp.91-99.
Reis and et.al., 2018, March. Digital transformation: a literature review and guidelines for future
research. In World conference on information systems and technologies (pp. 411-421).
Springer, Cham.
Urbach, N. and Röglinger, M., 2019. Introduction to digitalization cases: how organizations
rethink their business for the digital age. In Digitalization cases (pp. 1-12). Springer,
Cham.
Online:
E-commerce: The Past, Present, and Future, 2022[Online] Available
Through:<https://www.spiralytics.com/blog/past-present-future-ecommerce/>
E-Commerce, 2022[Online] Available
Through:<https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/business/e-commerce/31868>