What is Ecommerce?

1 June 2020

The term ecommerce actually stands for electronic commerce, refers to the action of purchasing and selling items online. Consumers use the internet to exchange money for goods and services during an ecommerce transaction. It sounds quite a simple concept, but there’s a lot more to ecommerce. Let’s dive into more detail about every aspect of ecommerce you should be aware of.

How and Where?

Any transaction that is actioned using an electronic method such as a barcode reader, telephone, Apply Pay or online via a credit card transaction can be classed as ecommerce. These transactions take place on the Internet. As of now there are between twelve and twenty four million ecommerce websites online, which really shows you that this form of buying platform is extremely popular. Here are some of the most common forms of ecommerce you will come across.

The Digital Marketplace

eBay and Amazon are a couple of well recognised platforms that could be considered online marketplaces. This is where consumers can buy first hand or second hand goods at a reasonable price. Other platforms such as Fiverr for example also allow freelance creators to sell their knowledge and services via an online marketplace. Ecommerce doesn’t just refer to tangible products; services also fall under this criteria too.

Websites

When a business creates a website in order to sell their products or services, this is considered an online or digital storefront. Web Wizard for example is our preferred platform

that supports ecommerce for small and large businesses.

Social Media Platforms

There are ways to purchase goods on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, with their ‘shop’ sections. This isn’t available to every merchant, but this is definitely increasing in overall popularity.Now that it is clear where you can find various forms of ecommerce it is important to discuss the types of products and services that are being sold. Here is an overview of the various types of goods that owners can sell via ecommerce platforms.

Selling Physical Products

We are all familiar with the idea of online retailers from home goods to clothing stores, there are absolutely millions of ecommerce platforms that offer physical products. Usually online stories show photos and descriptions of their goods which then enable consumers to add them to their basket and check out when they are ready. The physical product is then shipped straight to the buyer; there are often options to pick up in store too.

Selling Digital Products

The nature of ecommerce is digital, so it makes complete sense that online retailers are using these platforms to sell digital goods. From software to online courses, there are many different virtual goods to buy online.