by Christina Marie

Created on: November 22, 2008

E-COMMERCE; STRONGER THAN EVER

INTRODUCTION

The exchange of goods or services electronically and over the internet or E-Commerce or online shopping as it is known, is becoming increasingly popular with today's technologically savvy consumer.

A greater number of forward thinking businesses have identified the opportunity to appeal to this new market of consumers and are utilising E-Commerce as a core part of their operations, which has many benefits for both the consumer and the business.

POPULARITY/ GROWTH

Internet and online shopping are rapidly growing in popularity as a necessary commodity for Australian consumers. According to the Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2008, there were 7.23 million subscribers to the internet in Australia, comprised of 1.02 million business and government subscribers and 6.21 million household subscribers. Australians are also the third biggest online shoppers in the world and in just three years online payments and procurement in Australia have grown from 10 Billion dollars to almost 35 billion dollars, demonstrating a phenomenal increase in the popularity of E-Commerce. Approximately 80 per cent of people use the internet to search for their product or service before making a purchase and in the future the number of people searching for a product or service and actually purchasing that product or service online is also set to increase, building a case for the importance of E-Commerce to today's successful businesses.

BENEFITS

Businesses benefit greatly from E-Commerce as it means a great reduction in overheads or administration costs, it has the potential to streamline sales, increase revenue, reach new markets both locally and internationally, launch new products or services more effectively, there are a greater number of functions available to promote their products or services online and most importantly businesses utilise E-Commerce as a way of remaining competitive in a market that is rapidly moving towards online shopping, as the way of the future.

Consumers also benefit from E-Commerce as it means that there is a greater variety of products available to them at the best prices, as different brands or stores are a few clicks away compared to kilometres or even oceans away in travel time. Today consumers are even more time poor and online shopping can reduce the time it takes for basic food shopping, purchasing clothing, renting a DVD, ordering services such as printing or gardening and even ordering a pizza! Consumers can

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