What is Commerce?

Commerce is nothing but buying and selling of goods it has been around for many years starting from barter system where there was just exchange of goods to using precious metals to using coins and then paper money and plastic money.

Traditional Commerce:

Traditional Commerce used to happen face to face so it was limited to particular geographical location. There was a personal interaction and delivery of goods was instantaneous. It was limited to certain business hours typically during day time with the advent of internet came in E-commerce.

E-commerce:

It can be defined as the process of buying and selling of goods or services using an electronic medium such as internet.
Example on Amazon, Flipkart, olx etc.
Here the sales happens online you can potentially sell across the world. 

There is limited personal interaction and delivery of goods and services might take some time. It is available 24/7 and can be done day or night.

E-commerce which is also extended to mobile and social media network.
When we say mobile commerce today you are able to do any transactions from your smartphone or tablet. Like mobile banking, bill payments, ticket booking etc.

In addition there is rise of social commerce which is use of social media sites like Facebook, Whats app, to promote and sell products and services.

There are multiple ways by which you can make payments online. You can use credit or debit cards like cards issued by mastercard and visa. You can use prepaid cards like gift cards. you can also do net banking where if you are enrolled in internet banking you can choose your bank and do direct bank transfer. Example through neft and ms.

You can also use e-wallet which is like a prepaid card or it is linked to your bank account. Which you can use for online transactions. Example Paytm wallet. Now it is mobile payments using upi is becoming common like google pay, beam etc. Upcoming trends include digital currency like Bitcoin, or Ethereum.

Advantage:

• It is available 24/7.                         
• Provides a global reach.
• No need for intermediaries.

Disadvantage:

• Lack of personal touch.
• Requires an initial setup cost for hardware, software etc.
• Sometimes there are problems with order fulfillment or returns.

Primarily e-commerce is of four types which are as follows.

1. B2C:

In this model business sell its products directly to a customer. A customer can view the product shown on the website and order the same. Example Amazon or Flipkart.

2. B2B:

Here business sells its products to an intermediate buyer who then sells the products to the final customer.
For example: a company might sell it’s product to a wholesaler who will sell it to multiple retailers at some price markup.

3. C2C:

Where a consumer sells any of their assets like property cars, motorcycle etc by publishing the information on a website where interested consumers can view and do the purchase.
Example: Buying and selling on olx or quicker or craigslist.

4. C2B:

Consumers have products or services of that can be consumed by business.
For example: social media influencers being paid by businesses to advertise their products.