Electronic commerce is the process of buying and selling products or services over the internet. It occurs through virtual channels such as online stores, marketplaces or social networks. Payment is usually made by digital means and the delivery or withdrawal of products is offered.
E-commerce has become a widely used strategy for any business that wants to boost their sales.
And is not for less! According to a , today it is estimated that, on average, 9% of retail purchases in Argentina are made this way. By 2025 this figure is expected to reach 15% of all virtual transactions.
If you want to take advantage of this market trend to boost your business, we invite you to continue reading about what electronic commerce is, the most important types of commerce and the advantages of this modality.
What is electronic commerce
Electronic commerce (from English) is the model of buying and selling products or services online. In this type of business, the client accesses a brand, marketplace or social network and performs the following steps.
- Select what you want to buy from a catalog of products or services.
- Choose the one you prefer (debit or credit card, bank transfer or cash, among others).
- Determine the means of delivery or withdrawal of your purchase.
To know examples of electronic commerce we can think of the most varied items:
And we could go on ad infinitum naming examples of electronic commerce! We bring you the history of Tiendanube Fe in video format, look!
There are different types of electronic commerce and, in this article, we are going to introduce you to each one of them. But first, let’s see in detail how this type of buying and selling works.
How does electronic commerce work?
To fully understand the process, it is important to know how the sales stages work and to know all the actors involved in the process. Look!
sales channel
In e-commerce, products are advertised on pages that function as a virtual window, within your online store, social network or .
They must contain photos and all the data and technical specifications that may be relevant to the potential client when making the decision to buy.
Basically, a good product description in all electronic commerce must give information and be persuasive to convince the reader to complete the transaction.
If this point was interesting to you, you cannot miss the specialized guide that we bring you below!
We bring you an unmissable guide:
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Shipping and payment methods
To make a payment, the customer must register with the online store or marketplace. The data requested may vary depending on the platform.
In all cases, with the delivery address data, the consumer can calculate the value and decide how he wants to receive his product. By selecting a shipping method, you will be able to choose the preferred payment method and complete the purchase process.
If you have a Tiendanube or are about to create one, we invite you to visit our . There you will find tools related to shipping, payments and many more topics related to e-commerce.
Product delivery
When the online business receives the purchase order, it needs to separate the products to send to the customer.
Once the packaging is finished, what follows is to deliver the package to the transport or mail company, so that, finally, it is sent to the buyer’s address.
It is important to ensure that the customer receives the products within the period established in the purchase. For this, there are two basic cares to have:
- Enable sales of said product only when there is available stock.
- Pack products in advance to expedite this last step of delivery.
Types of electronic commerce
According to the commercial profile, that is, the client to whom the business is directed, there are 7 types of electronic commerce. Let’s meet them!
- B2B: Business to Business. In this case, a company sells to another company. It does not focus on the final consumer of the product, but on intermediaries such as suppliers or retailers.
- B2C: Business to Consumer. Here the customer is the person who will actually use the product.
- C2B: Consumer to Business. These are self-employed professionals who provide their services to companies.
- C2C: Consumer to Consumer. It is direct marketing that occurs between two end users. It is usually an informal transaction because no company is involved.
- G2C: Government to Consumer. The transaction is between a government or administration and consumers.
- B2G: Business to Government. The case occurs when a company sells a product or service to a government entity.
- B2E: Business to Employee. Here companies make purchases for their employees to deliver, for example, on special dates or specific events related to the company.
Here we address each one in detail and with real cases:
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6 indisputable advantages of electronic commerce
To continue understanding what electronic commerce is, we are going to dedicate ourselves to analyzing its benefits.
At the beginning of this article we mentioned the 15% growth forecast for 2025 in e-commerce in Argentina. As the data shows, it is a booming industry, ideal for entrepreneurs who are starting to sell!
To help you take the first step, let’s move on to the advantages of selling products or services with your virtual store.
1. Sales at any time
In electronic commerce, products are available to customers 24 hours a day.
And there’s more: selling online gives you the chance to reach consumers from anywhere in the world. They can access your online store where, when and how they want.
Are you thinking of selling abroad? Look:
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2. Complete reports on your audience
The behavior of your customers is one of the most important factors to guide your e-commerce strategy.
From these metrics, you will be able to know how many people accessed your store, what they searched for the most or what pages they browsed. All this through tools such as , which allows you to access all the statistics of your website for free.
Thus, it is easier to identify the points where there are opportunities for improvement in terms of the operational management or logistics of your virtual store, or the marketing strategies that you are implementing.
If you are thinking of taking the step, see how easy it is to create your own online store with Tiendanube:
3. Lower cost and investment
Having a physical business is much more laborious and requires a larger budget than selling through an electronic commerce. This happens because, in the first case, there are more procedures and permits that must be managed and the necessary investment is also greater.
To put it in other words, it is easier reach the to boost with additional strategies that bring you profit.
In a virtual store, on the other hand, the first steps consist of choosing the e-commerce platform that allows you to create a personalized, responsive website (that is, one that is easily navigable on mobile devices) and functional for your customers.
4. Growth potential
Being more accessible, entrepreneurship through electronic commerce has great potential for expansion.
Whether it’s expanding the product offering or implementing new business, marketing and sales strategies, the growth opportunity in e-commerce is a fact!
5. Product visibility
According to a , 80% of users search for information on the internet about products before going to buy in a physical store.
This is a very valuable opportunity for those who have an e-commerce that works like a virtual shop window. The user will be interested in comparing prices and seeing every detail before making a purchase. An excellent opportunity to publicize your brand!
To make it easier for consumers to find items, it is essential to choose a platform that offers a good product search function, as well as to organize information and filters by category or price.
Tiendanube, for example, offers all this and has a stable server, which keeps the stores open and running 99.9% of the year.
6. Flexible routine
With a robust tool supporting the business, you won’t need a large team to support it. Many entrepreneurs launch their brand alone and grow it with dedication, time and effort.
In this way, the management of time, tasks and routine in general, becomes more flexible. There are many tools that will help you optimize your time on a day-to-day basis, such as our generator of:
e-commerce platforms
E-commerce platforms allow you to design your own online store without the need for in-depth technical knowledge of web development and graphic design.
We have prepared a list with the 21 most used platforms in Argentina so that you know the available options.
- Tiendanube: the leading platform in the region with more than 100,000 brands that they choose every day to boost their business.
It has various plans for the needs of each brand, varied design templates, personalized attention, endless applications to offer the best shopping experience at each step of the process, and much more!
We invite you to, look at everything you can do with your brand!
- MercadoShops: developed by Mercado Libre, it has all the services and integrations of the most used marketplace.
- Empretienda: especially focused on small entrepreneurs who wish to create and manage their virtual store.
- Magento
- wix
- PrestaShop
- Shopify
- VTEX
- BigCommerce
- zyro
- 3dcart
- big poster
- volution
- OpenCart
- AbanteCart
- billowshop
- osCommerce
- CubeCart
- shopup
- SquareOnline
Get to know each tool thoroughly in this article:
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Digital marketing strategies for e-commerce
For the last section of this specialized guide on electronic commerce, we are going to talk about one of its pillars: digital marketing.
This is a fundamental universe for both sustaining and growing a virtual business.
While there is much to learn, we want to bring you the most important points. At the end of this section, we leave you with a specialized article on digital marketing so that you can delve into the most relevant points for your brand’s current strategy.
email marketing
Being in contact with your audience through email opens the doors to many strategies and creative ideas.
From actions to boost sales to generate…
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