E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over electronic systems. It includes the entire process of online transactions, from product discovery to checkout.
10 points on what isn’t a function of e-commerce:
- Marketing and advertising
- Warehousing
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Product development
- Customer service
- Web design and development
- Security
- Logistics
- Payment processing
- Tax compliance
Many functions that are essential to e-commerce, such as:
- Selling products: This is the core function of e-commerce. Businesses need to be able to list their products on their website or marketplace, and then allow customers to purchase them.
- Processing payments: Once a customer has purchased a product, the e-commerce platform needs to be able to process the payment. This usually involves working with a third-party payment processor.
- Shipping products: Once a payment has been processed, the e-commerce platform needs to be able to ship the product to the customer. This may involve working with a third-party shipping company.
- Providing customer support: Customers may need help with anything from placing an order to tracking a shipment. E-commerce businesses need to provide customer support to answer questions and resolve issues.
Some functions that are not essential to e-commerce
- Marketing and advertising: E-commerce businesses can use marketing and advertising to reach new customers, but this is not essential. In fact, many e-commerce businesses rely on word-of-mouth and organic search traffic to drive sales.
- Tax compliance. E-commerce businesses need to comply with tax laws in the countries where they sell products. However, this can be outsourced to a tax compliance company.
- Warehousing: E-commerce businesses can either store their own inventory or use a third-party fulfillment service. If a business chooses to store its own inventory, it will need to have a warehouse. However, this is not essential, as many e-commerce businesses use a third-party fulfillment service.
- Customer relationship management (CRM): CRM software can help e-commerce businesses manage their customer relationships. However, this is not essential, as many e-commerce businesses can manage their customer relationships without CRM software.
So, what isn’t a function of e-commerce? In short, any function that is not directly related to the buying and selling of goods and services over electronic systems is not essential to e-commerce.
In this content, we discuss the functions of e-commerce in more detail, and then explore the functions that are not essential. We also discuss the benefits of e-commerce for businesses and consumers, and the challenges that e-commerce businesses face.