E-commerce Role, Benefits & Online Influencers in Digital Strategy

This essay examines the role of e-commerce in modern business, highlighting its advantages over traditional high street presence, such as convenience, broad exposure, and global reach. It also delves into the significance of online influencers in digital communication strategies, emphasizing their ability to shape consumer attitudes, drive purchase intentions, and foster brand loyalty. The essay discusses various e-commerce models like B2C, B2B, and C2C, along with the benefits and drawbacks, including security concerns and reliance on internet connectivity. Furthermore, it underscores how influencers act as opinion leaders, providing valuable customer insights and facilitating collaborative engagement between brands and consumers. Desklib offers more resources for students.

Essay

TOPIC 1......................................................................................................................................................2
Define the role of ecommerce. What are the advantages and benefits over having a high street
presence?.................................................................................................................................................2
TOPIC 2......................................................................................................................................................3
Do you agree that online influencers are the most important part of the digital communications strategy
of businesses?..........................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................5
TOPIC 1
Define the role of ecommerce. What are the advantages and benefits over having a high
street presence?
In the age of digital media, e-commerce is inextricably linked to business promotion.
Making business available online is critical to its growth for a variety of reasons, including high
convenience, broad exposure, global customers, ease of operation, and so on. E-commerce, also
known as electronic commerce, is the electronic purchase and sale of goods or services over the
internet. Other online activities, such as auctions, ticketing, and banking, can also be included.
This article discusses the various types of e-commerce, the benefits and drawbacks of e-
commerce, and why e-commerce is important (Clemons, Kauffman and Weber, 2017). E-
commerce is a critical component of many businesses that rely on the online sale of physical
goods or services. Here are the various types of e-commerce. Business-to-consumer (B2C): The
most common type of e-commerce is B2C. Customer purchases something from an online store,
they are engaging in business-to-consumer e-commerce. Business-to-business (B2B): B2B is
when a company sells raw goods or parts via e-commerce to another company, which will then
use those materials to create their own products. Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce
occurs when one consumer sells to another. E-commerce sites such as eBay and Craigslist are
examples of this type of e-commerce.
Purchases are completed more quickly. Customers can save time when shopping for what
they want. They can easily browse through a large number of items at once and purchase what

they like. Customers can find items online that are not available in physical stores near them or
that are not available in their area. Creating a store and product listings when a customer
searches for an item, they see a product listing (Ferrari and Teixeira, 2021). This is one benefit of
ecommerce for the seller. The advantage of this online business is that personalise product
listings after you create them. What's the best part it takes very little time to create a listing; all
you need is your product name or codes such as EAN, UPC, or ISBN. Disadvantage: Security:
Because of hacks by cybercriminals and hackers, online portals have received a lot of attention. It is a
very serious issue because the account could be hacked as a result of carelessness and the existing funds
wiped out. This is the harsh reality of e-commerce sites, and no website can guarantee that financial
information will not be compromised on its portal. To prevent data breaches, the website owner must take
important steps to change the password. E-commerce is completely reliant on an internet connection. A
significant disadvantage of e-commerce is the inability to purchase due to a site crash. A small word site
crash can bring down an entire business in a matter of seconds. One of the major drawbacks of an e-
commerce portal is that a customer cannot try and test the product for his own satisfaction. It is habitual
to buy at physical stores after trying a product several times, and it takes a lot of guts to suddenly change
this lifetime habit where you cannot touch, try, or test the product beforehand.
TOPIC 2
Do you agree that online influencers are the most important part of the digital
communications strategy of businesses?
Influencers have a moderating effect on consumer behaviour. Influencers serve as
opinion leaders on behalf of brands, acting as a bridge between firms and customers. They share
brand information with their online followers and help to shape a positive consumer attitude
toward a brand. Furthermore, because influencers are in close contact with the final customers,
they use their connections to provide valuable customer insights to the firms. Customers'
purchase intentions are influenced by influencers, and consumers' consumption behaviour is
influenced by influencers, who act as independent third-party endorsers. They also use various
social media platforms to assist customers in their decision-making process. Influencers use
their credibility and attractiveness to increase customer admiration for brands. This admiration
for a brand is then channelled by influencers into purchase intent, resulting in increased sales for
the brand. Influencers have an impact on brand loyalty.

Brand loyalty is a post-purchase behaviour among customers, and influencers can play a
significant role in guiding it.Influencers have a positive impact on customer satisfaction through
blogs and videos of product usage advice and recommendations(Hemrungrot, Jakkaew and
Assawaboonmee, 2017). They give customers a place to share their experiences and opinions on
various social media platforms. Through their post-purchase decision processes, social media
influencers can play an important role in increasing consumer satisfaction. Influencers wield
power in online communities because they have a high level of credibility, authority, and a large
number of connections. This also gives influencers the ability to foster collaborative engagement
between brands and their customers. Influencers have the ability to influence customer
satisfaction, and they are also equipped with new tools to assess dissatisfaction with a brand's
available products or services. Influencers act as a bridge between brands and their customers,
allowing them to interact with businesses and "co-create" value. Influencers enable users to
participate in the development of products. This process begins with the generation of ideas and
ends with the commercialization of these products. Influencers serve as opinion leaders on behalf
of brands, acting as a bridge between firms and customers. They share brand information with
their online followers and help to shape a positive consumer attitude toward a brand.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Avgerou, C. and Walsham, G. eds., 2017. Information technology in context: Studies from the
perspective of developing countries. Routledge.
Avgerou, C. and Walsham, G., 2017. Introduction: IT in developing countries. In Information technology
in context (pp. 1-8). Routledge.
Bushtruk, T.N. and Tepliakov, V.B., 2019. INTRODUCTION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN
THE ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES-IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE
EDUCATIONAL PROCESS. Information Innovative Technologies, 1(1), pp.187-193.
Clemons, E., Dewan, R., Kauffman, R. and Weber, T., 2017, January. Introduction to Strategy,
Information, Technology, Economics, and Society (SITES) Minitrack. In Proceedings of the 50th
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
Ferrari, R.M. and Teixeira, A.M., 2021. Introduction to the Book. In Safety, Security and Privacy for
Cyber-Physical Systems (pp. 1-8). Springer, Cham.
Hemrungrote, S., Jakkaew, P. and Assawaboonmee, S., 2017, March. Deployment of Google Classroom
to enhance SDL cognitive skills: A case study of introduction to information technology course.
In 2017 International Conference on Digital Arts, Media and Technology (ICDAMT) (pp. 200-
204). IEEE.