E-commerce is considered an important event in the history of the internet because it makes trading easier especially within the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the different types of e-commerce, it has many advantages and features that we will come along with within this article.

Definition of e-commerce

The term e-commerce is defined as all commercial exchange that takes place between two parties via the Internet or social media, which has been able to impose itself in the world of commerce thus transforming the sale and purchase of all its forms to the various internet networks around the world.

Types of e-commerce

The types of e-commerce differ according to the selling and buying parties, which can be divided into six main types:

1. The exchange between a company and another company:

   This type of e-commerce is known to take place between companies (B2B) Business to Business, so that one company sells its products and goods to another company, such as if textile manufacturing companies sell their goods to fashion design companies and the clothing industry.

2. An exchange between the company and the consumer:

   This trade exchange process depends on a company producing its products and goods and selling them to the consumer or the customer individually

   which is (B2C) Business to Consumer, and for example, a customer purchases a pair of shoes, from Amazon.

3. The exchange between one consumer and another consumer:

   It means that a consumer displays his used furniture on a website such as eBay, and then another consumer buys it, and it is called Consumer to Consumer (C2C).

4. The exchange between the consumer and the company (business):

   (C2B) means Consumer to Business, and it is through consumers selling their products to one of the companies concerned with those products, such as if a content writer or graphic designer provides his services to an advertising company.

5. The exchange between management and business:

   B2A means “Business to Administration”, which expresses all the exchanges that take place over the internet

   between companies and the public administration, especially with the presence of e-government, such as social security and legal records.

6. The exchange between consumer and management:

   This is the exchange that takes place between individuals and the administration, such as tax payment and remote education, and is known by the term (C2A) Consumer to Administration.

 Advantages of e-commerce

There are many reasons why the world follows the e-commerce path

considering it the best commercial outlet at this time through which they can achieve a great impact.

Despite the different reasons, many e-commerce workers agree on a set of advantages

that e-commerce provides them with:

• Attracting new clients:

Thanks to the online retailers having a wide audience compared to the actual stores that are limited to the passers-by category only.

The display of online stores necessarily provides a greater percentage of access to more potential

and new customers, especially if you work to improve your site in the results of the global search engine

Google and other search engines, which will lead to the arrival of your site to new segments of new customers.

• No geographic restrictions:

E-commerce provides a wide range of selling to customers without setting geographical restrictions, by relying on selling products over the internet and then shipping them to the customer at his place of residence.

• E-commerce more accessible:

Thanks to the ability to keep the online store open around the clock, unlike the physical stores

that is only open for specific hours

this is what makes your products available in the hands of customers at any time

thus saving your customers the trouble of traveling to buy a product and pay more costs and waste time.

• Customer Analytics:

E-commerce allows its customers to give an opinion and analyze your own website which reflects the great benefit to you by directing you to the weaknesses that you must work to improve.

Some of the information that customer analytics can provide:

• • Purchased products.
  • Common products.
  • Offered products.
  • Demographic data.
  • Elapsed time at the site.
  • Time of purchase and others.

• Automate discounts:

This is done by setting discount codes on the backend of your own website

and creating an expiration date for them.

• E-commerce is less expensive:

  Thanks to the online store, you will save on the costs of renting or owning a property

  to open your physical store, in addition to all the additional costs that may be incurred by you.

  Via the Internet, you can automate inventory using a web-based management system at lower costs.

Importance and benefits of e-commerce for companies:

• It provided a wide space for the products of the business and commercial companies in the local, international and global markets.
• It also provided companies with greater access to consumers and customers in a faster and more effective way, which increased the percentage of sales and purchase movement and thus increased the percentage of profits.
• E-commerce has opened a way for customers to evaluate products, which reflected positively on companies developing their products and avoiding errors by customer demand and satisfaction.
• It is worth mentioning that E-commerce reduced the time for completing purchase transactions and reduced the period between obtaining the product and paying for it.
• In addition, through e-commerce, companies were able to produce goods and commodities in proportion to consumers’ desires and demands.

The importance and benefits of e-commerce for individuals:

• It provided a wide space for the products of the business and commercial companies in the local, international and global markets.
• It also provided companies with greater access to consumers and customers in a faster and more effective way, which increased the percentage of sales and purchase movement and thus increased the percentage of profits.
• E-commerce has opened a way for customers to evaluate products, which reflected positively on companies developing their products and avoiding errors by customer demand and satisfaction.
• It is worth mentioning that E-commerce reduced the time for completing purchase transactions and reduced the period between obtaining the product and paying for it.
• In addition, through e-commerce, companies were able to produce goods and commodities in proportion to consumers’ desires and demands.

Conclusion:

E-commerce has become a huge place that brings together many different people and companies over the Internet, which made trade and product exchange operations around the world easier and more enjoyable and allowed all groups of different financial capabilities to enter the world of e-commerce and earn profits from it.