Menu

E-Commerce

E-Commerce


E-commerce, short for ‘electronic commerce,’ entails the trading in products or services using computer networks such as the Internet.

E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.

Below you’ll find a bunch of our posts related to e-commerce. Some of the topics that our company bloggers cover include magento e-commerce, and the best ecommerce sites that are currently active on the web. Because e-commerce is a wide and expansive field that is constantly growing, our team is constantly on the go to cover all the latest and greatest news associated with e-commerce.

Since Hara Partners is an e-commerce solutions company, all of the e-commerce going-ons in the world are of the most maximal concern to us. Some of the topics that we covered in the past include Asian e-commerce, mobile e-commerce platforms, and e-commerce trends.

For your information, we’ve also listed some of the common types of e-commerce platforms below:
 

  • On Premise E-commerce:


    • On-premise E-commerce software usually requires initial one time purchase investment in terms of licensing fees. Also, it implies extra costs related to hardware and installation services as well as data migration and on-going maintenance fees that are usually charged on a yearly basis for software updates and support. Some examples of typical on premise E-commerce platforms are Hybris, Sanna Commerce, Oorjit, and IBM WebSphere.

  • Software as a service (SaaS) E-commerce:


    • Software as a Service (SaaS)- is a cloud based delivery model in which applications are hosted and managed in a service provider’s datacenter, paid for on a subscription basis and accessed via a browser over an internet connection. Two examples of typical SaaS E-commerce solutions are Shopify and Demandware.

  • Open Source E-commerce:


    • Open source e-Commerce is a free of charge platform that doesn’t imply licenses fee. Furthermore, open source users are also responsible for installing, maintaining, securing and configuring the software on their own servers. In order to set up an open source platform, basic technical expertise is required in the areas of web design and development. Software products that are distributed as open source are generally free, and users can access and modify the source code. Three examples of typical open source E-commerce platforms are PrestaShop, osCommerce, Magento and Thelia.

    The Ticking Time Bomb of eCommerce returns

    The Ticking Time Bomb of ecommerce Returns

    Returns have been quite a huge loss for retail brands in ecommerce. When a product is returned or exchanged it loses its original worth as its price has a decrement and not only had this it is a huge trouble for the retailers also as it is cannot be sold again at the original price obviously because of the damage caused by wear or tear. According to retail predictions which I have laid my eyes on it is getting worse for retailers as E-commerce increasing with increase in the amount of return is day by day. But the return rate of purchased products from stores is less than the products we get online.

    Causes of ecommerce:

    Back then the shipping was rarely free and there were no such things as returning and getting your money or exchanging them. Today the customer and business are a lot closer than they used to be because of the e-commece that is why compared to the previous years there is a drastic rise in returns and exchanges. We found this problem more in ecommerce, for example, if a person comes to the store to buy a product he is going to buy it until he is completely and fully satisfied with it that is why the return or exchange chances are very little or not. But in online store customer has to buy the product first there are more chances that it does not fit or suit him and something else. We made the return and exchange policy so easy that sometimes customers order more than one item in different sizes and colours to make sure they get what they really need.

    Is it getting better? NO:

    It is quite a shock that the return price is less in physical stores as compared to online stores although they online stores need it most as they face more returns and exchange than physical stores. It is very hard for some e-commerce businesses to manage this rate of returns as it can be that much out of control and a big motivator for them to move this online business to the physical store. Although it is a huge set back to the company regardless of this they have to offer free shipping and a good return or exchange policy in order to compete with the other brands.

    How to balance your ecommerce?

    As we discussed earlier there is no way for the company to “move to good old days” it will only make them suffer and especially when the brand is just being introduced in the market. According to some researchers, the huge companies or brands which are financially stable and have good monthly sales can manage to deal with it by balancing it with the profit from good sales.

    Web development

    Web development and web design roles in e-commerce

    , ,

    Web developmentWeb design and web development in e-commerce

    Web design and web development have become a major player in the way we think about e-commerce. There is no one who will willingly go onto a site that has a terrible user experience. There is a correlation between an e-commerce web design and the success of the websites.  The web development sector is set to grow with more than 24% in the next three years. E-commerce web development is the main sector in web development.

    E-commerce Web development

    E-commerce web development is mainly done for customs e-commerce websites. In order to create a website, web developers need to code using python, c++ or java coding languages. Coding is the process of giving a computer or machine specific instructions to do. This is a highly complex task that needs the web developer to be well trained. To train for web development one can go to a web development boot camp or take an online Associate’s degree program for two years. Web development boot camps typically take 6 months. This gives the front end web developer a chance to learn how to develop e-commerce websites. The web development course is comprehensive.

    Web design and web development in e-commerce  

    Web designers and web developers have a big role to play in the e-commerce sector. Most e-commerce web templates are created by web designers and web developers. The difference between a web designer and a web developer is the fact that a web designer mostly is no the graphics designing sector. The web developer is the one who codes the entire e-commerce website. The web developer has got a more complex role in the e-commerce sector. The salaries also defer. The web developer earns more than the web designer.

    A simple analysis of e-commerce trends.

    E-commerce trends over the past couple of years

    The e-commerce market has experienced tremendous growth over the past couple of years. Since the beginning of the 21st century we have seen the growth of incredible companies such as Amazon, and eBay. It is clear that over the past couple of years humans have become more comfortable with buying their products online, instead of going to a conventional retail store to wait in the line in order to check out an item by the register. The rise of blockchain technology was due in part to the rise of e-commerce and the desire for people to remain as anonymous as possible. One e-commerce site that captured the headlines was Silk Road. Silk Road was a dark net e-commerce site which is infamous for selling illegal stuff such as cocaine, marijuana, guns, child porn and stolen credit cards. This shows that people had become more comfortable in buying stuff from people they know nothing about.

    E-commerce trends forecast

    In 2017 e-commerce companies like Amazon grew by more than 20%. The market cap of Amazon is due to its dominance in fields such as cloud computing, and e-book retail dominance. This has led investors to pump money into the e-commerce giant. This is mainly due to the fact that Amazon has proven to have a bright future. However, Amazon is being put under monopoly scrutiny by both the European Union and the United States government. Some speculators believe that Amazon is going to be broken down into smaller companies.

    Mobile e-commerce trends

    Mobile e-commerce has picked up pace over the past few years. The mobile e-commerce trends are on the rise throughout the globe, especially in the East Asian market. It is estimated that by 2020 40% of all e-commerce purchases are going to be done through mobile devices such as tablets, iPads, and smartphones.
    #mobile e-commerce trends
    #e-commerce trends

    Generation Z shoppers

    Study shows how Generation Z shoppers behave

    ,

    Generation Z shoppers

    Digital marketers will find the recent survey conducted by IBM and the National Retail Foundation about Generation Z shoppers very interesting and useful. Members of this generation, who were born before the turn of the century, have been on the radar of many brands. These firms will further understand how this generation behaves by learning the findings of the said survey:

    1. Generation Z shoppers like innovative and tech-driven stores

    Members of this generation already make up a quarter of the population in the United States so brands should update their online stores to attract Gen Z shoppers.  New online store technologies like interactive screens, smartphone self checkout and virtual-try ons are some of those innovations that brands should incorporate in their online stores.

    2. Generation Z shoppers rely on their phone when shopping.

    Gen Zers walk around with a smartphone in their hand, whether they step into a shopping mall or hang out in a coffee shop.  Their smartphones are particularly helpful when they shop as they use it for reading product reviews and comparing prices.

    This trend suggests that retailers should work with the smartphone habits of the younger generation. For instance, creating an app or rolling out a virtual reality store can make the shopping experience for Gen Zers as seamless as possible.

    3.  Generation Z shoppers are influenced by social media

    For many members of Generation Z, social media is a vital part of their shopping experience. In fact, a study by RetailDIVE showed that 8 out of 10 purchases by Gen Zers are influenced by social media. This is not really a surprising fact because these shoppers grew up with social media.

    However, brands should not only focus on Facebook advertising. This is a generation who hates pop-up ads because they view it as like an invasion of privacy. Instead, brands should focus on things that can catch the attention of the younger generation such as coming up with entertaining content that Gen Zers can share on their social media accounts.

    Supreme Court struggles more in the case of sales tax with e-commerce, U.S

    Supreme Court struggles more in the case of sales tax with e-commerce, U.S

    , ,

    Supreme Court struggles more in the case of sales tax with e-commerce, U.S

    U.S Supreme Court heard cases of online retailers on the sales tax collection

    WASHINGTON: on Tuesday, the U.S Supreme Court appeared with the hesitant just to let the online retailer out-of-state on the purchase of sales tax collection, while someone saying Congress has the power to resolve the matter.

    A one-hour argument heard by the nine-justice, with closely watched case, just to put the South Dakota, backed to the administration of President Donald Trump, against considering the business of e-commerce, potentially, billions of dollar are used in this fight, it’s a worth of affective states “consumer and coffers” wallets.

    Justices heard many cases on sales tax

    On the issue of sales tax, the Justice heard many cases against the trumpet’s criticism backdrop of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), which is the dominant player.

    However, South Dakota asked potentially to justices about the overturn of Supreme Court precedent 1992, which can’t be required to collect the retailer’s sales tax unless, the physical presence of a business in the existing state. Online retailer Wayfair (W.N) out-of-state, Newegg Inc and Overstock.com Inc (OSTK.O) are contesting the authority of South Dakota for the purpose of sales tax collection and won the value of lower courts.

    PARTICULAR BUSINESS MODEL FOR SALES TAX:

    Gorsuch asked why court favors a particular model for business? While considering the e-commerce reference companies, who are not collecting the sales taxes

    Kennedy said, the decision proved incorrect and it is indicated with the responsibility of court instead of waiting for the Congress act. However, a similar point made by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also saying that it was not the job of a congress.

    Some justices appeared because they agree with the statement that the company is ruling the striking down in the North Dakota case, which would lead to scrambling the laws to overcome the small business burden.

    BlueCherry PLM

    How BlueCherry Can Help Advance Your Company’s Omnichannel Planning

    , ,

     

    How CGS’s BlueCherry Can Help Advance Your Company’s Omnichannel Planning

    BlueCherry Enterprise Software by CGS provides businesses with the platform to gain omnichannel success.  In the present omnichannel market, companies have to handle many pressures.  Some of these include controlling operational costs, reducing product time to market and improving website visibility.  BlueCherry helps its clients succeed in competing and succeeding in the industry.

     

    What is the Omnichannel Market?

    The term omnichannel refers to a certain approach to sales.  This approach aims to provide the customer with a seamless shopping experience.  Whether the customer is shopping online, from a mobile or in a physical store.  It integrates the advantages of online and physical shopping into one.

     

    What Exactly Does BlueCherry Do?

    BlueCherry helps its clients with its expertise in omnichannel planning.  Today’s market is highly competitive.  To succeed, it is crucial that retailers increase their understanding of customer demand.  It is also crucial to use this knowledge to carefully plan their product range.  BlueCherry helps design omnichannel merchandise planning strategies to boost their clients’ sales.  Its planning aims to improve productivity and client-supplier relationships.  Omnichannel planning is particularly important for the fashion industry. Because, it is always under pressure to meet consumer demand.  And shorten product development.

    Many retailers are benefiting from BlueCherry’s Omnichannel Merchandise Planning. BlueCherry is helping many retailers improve their catalog, wholesale and Internet channel results.  BlueCherry lets retailers merge their individual plans into a single, multichannel plan.  This can help increase sales, margins and fulfilment rates.

     

    Success Stories

    Tommy Bahama is one of the retailers that BlueCherry has helped with their expertise.  They took the time to get to know Tommy Bahama’s products and align the brand’s message with the design.  Tommy Bahama has both traditional stores and an eCommerce website. These two kind of stores opens more opportunity to gain money.  They use BlueCherry for many things.  Including shipping for Tommy Bahama’s main warehouse.  This allows them to get thousands of deliveries out every day.  It also helps them gain a good reputation for quick delivery with their customers.  Program Manager of Tommy Bahama, Cynthia Quackenbush, has been impressed by the pace that the business is growing.  She pays a special thanks to BlueCherry for this.  Due to their dedication to the brand.

    Another company that BlueCherry has helped is Aerosoles.  Aerosoles is a shoe brand for women.  Vice President of Technology and Business Solutions, Tom Reeve, says that Aerosoles has benefited using BlueCherry’s Electronic Linguistics Module for electronic communication with suppliers.  He believes that BlueCherry offers superior functionality compared to its competitors.  He praises how well BlueCherry has supported Aerosoles throughout its online growth.

    CGS’s BlueCherry has the technical know-how to plan omnichannel advancement for your business.  If you think that CGS can help your business, visit:  http://www.cgsinc.com/en/contact

    The importance of Data in e-commerce

    The rising importance of data in the ecommerce sector.

     

    Importance of data in User experience

    User Experience has become an important part of most mobile and web-based applications. This means that e-commerce success relies heavily on data so that they make your experience on their website or application as comfortable as possible. Let’s imagine you are using a website to buy a phone. You will want to find the easiest website in order to buy your phone. Some e-commerce sites do not have the capacity to gather customer data properly. This proves to be a challenge to attract repeated buyers. This is why e-commerce companies strive to have the best User interfaces on the market.

    The importance of data in e-commerce marketing

    In marketing e-commerce products or brands, the importance of data can be evidently seen in the marketing arena. In order for an e-commerce startup to run a successful campaign, data has to be gathered. In simple terms, the entrepreneur has to gather data for the company to run a successful social media campaign. Even paid social media campaigns need some form of information in order for you to run a targeted campaign. Paid social media campaigns are mainly done by large collecting data companies such as Facebook and Google. When running a social media campaign remember to gather as much knowledge as possible. It will help you in your pursuit to increase e-commerce sales.Since the beginning of the modern digital age, the use of data has rapidly increased over the past decade. The importance of data is evident in the e-commerce sector. This is due to the fact that e-commerce businesses use data to research effective marketing techniques. It is also used to enhance customer’s experience by gathering data on what the client likes to search about.
    #importance of data
    #the importance of data in ecommerce

    E-commerce Platform trends and analysis

    E-commerce platform trends

    E-commerce platforms have increased as web companies such as WIX, Automatic (WordPress), and Shopify take the center stage. These companies have created platforms that are specifically tailored for e-commerce small and medium businesses. However other platforms that are like Magento and Amazon Web services are tailored for much bigger businesses. This is due to the knowledge required to create an e-commerce business on these platforms.

    Small e-commerce platform requirements

    E-commerce platforms such as WIX, Shopify and woo-commerce are perfect for small companies that are making between $100 to $500000 worth of revenue a year. These platforms are easy to use and cost less. Anyone can go to Shopify and create an e-commerce site. This makes the platform preferable to companies without the budget to hire a web developer. Woo-commerce by WordPress aims to become the third largest web hosting and e-commerce platform by 2020. It already has a valuation of more than 1.6 billion after successfully raising $500 million from venture capitals. Small e-commerce platforms require little knowledge and skill. They also require a small amount of capital to begin.

    The e-commerce platform forecast

    The popularity of larger e-commerce marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon will be overtaken by smaller more personalized platforms. The reason why large e-commerce sites such as eBay and Amazon tend to be unfavorable to medium e-commerce businesses is due to the lack of uniqueness. It is very hard to create a unique site on Amazon. Therefore the Amazon platform does not properly represent your brand. Besides the products, Amazon stores are all similar. The best way to represent your brand is to create a unique site on woo-commerce or Shopify. This is why Amazon’s dominance in the e-commerce sector is going to be greatly challenged over the next couple of years.
    #e-commerce platform forecast
    #e-commerce platform

    E-commerce reviews

    E-commerce reviews

    E-commerce reviews

    E-commerce reviews

    E-commerce reviews are a major driver of sales. This has made them a prime target of e-commerce entrepreneurs. The best products are created through the use of customer’s reviews. The fact of the matter is that customer’s reviews are a main driver of sales. Most people are willing to go and buy products that have been already reviewed by other customers. The more positive reviews a product receives the more likely it is to receive more sales. More positive feedbacks received results in sales of your product.

    E-commerce reviews in the hotel sector  

    Air BNB and trip advisor are now major players in the online holiday rentals e-commerce sectors. These two platforms have one thing in common. They both allow customers to leave reviews about their hotel or holiday rental. Air BNB offers a platform that allows for easy room renting. E-commerce review also plays a major part in this services industry. For a couple looking for a perfect spot for their vacation, this comes at a relief.

    E-commerce reviews for e-commerce websites

    Sometimes they are situations where e-commerce websites are owned by individual entrepreneurs. Due to the fact that smaller individual e-commerce websites are not well known. There is the need for them to be reviewed by more recognized reviewers. Let’s imagine a small e-commerce drone website that has not received a lot of reviews. This website needs reviews from more trustworthy websites in order for them to drive sales. When you own an online store it is important to get your websites and services reviewed by popular well-known websites.

    The downside of e-commerce reviews

    E-commerce reviews are not perfect. The downside of e-commerce reviews is that sometimes entrepreneurs and vendors have family and friends review their products. For example, experts have criticized Trip Advisors for not allowing experts to review websites. People who are not experts tend to give biased reviews on the website.

    How crowdfunding is revolutionizing e-commerce

    Crowdfunding is revolutionizing the entire ecommerce sector.

    Crowdfunding has become popular amongst entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding is a way entrepreneurs can raise funds for their startup from a large number of people. This reduces the level of risks associated with early-stage investing. Early stage investing tends to be very risky, therefore crowdfunding shares the risk amongst a lot of funders. Crowdfunding can exist in the form of equity crowdfunding or product launch crowdfunding. Product launch crowdfunding is revolutionizing the e-commerce sector in the sense that start-ups can raise funds easily without much of the risks or give up a large amount of the equity. Let’s imagine that you want to start a mobile phone business. The best you could do after creating the proto-type is selling it to customers before you launch the actual product when the customer’s pay for the product you will have funds to create the actual product and ship it to them. This reduces the need to give away equity to angel investors.

    Crowdfunding is revolutionizing the way we raise capital through equity

    Equity crowdfunding has become popular amongst small-scale angel investor and venture capitalists. This form of crowdfunding is revolutionizing e-commerce start-ups. Now people with innovative ideas can find funding easier than ever, this is because the amount needed to enter the e-commerce sector is small. In western countries the amount of start-up e-commerce sites founded by equity crowdfunding. Over the next decade, crowdfunding is going to be responsible for raising funds for start-ups than angel investors.

    Crowdfunding is revolutionizing the investment sector

    Imagine you want to become an investor at a very young age. You don’t have the ten thousand dollars needed to invest in the stock exchange. Then you can go to sites such as fundable, wefunder, and equitycrowdfunding.com in order to begin your life as an investor. This is how crowdfunding is revolutionizing the investment sector.

    #Crowdfunding is revolutionizing
    #Crowdfunding is revolutionizing the e-commerce sector

    Load More