I remember my mom used to always test the water before she would put my little kid sister into the bath tub. Later my dad would say "Son, look at both sides of the coin before you start anything". So here we are; mind made up and all ready to take the plunge but just before we do, some primeval instinct makes us pause and check both sides of the coin. The internet will provide you with a fairly extensive list of relevant, irrelevant and some downright fictional list of advantages and disadvantages of electronic commerce. What I've done is to lay out the real issues that would irritate or delight you on a day-to-day basis. So here goes:
The disadvantages of ecommerce
These usually consist of silly mistakes on the part of either the store owner or the customer:
1. Returned items - a major disadvantage of ecommerce
Very often customers misunderstand a description or are simply in too much of a rush to bother reading the detailed product description. Thus, an electrical item such as a cell phone charger that requires 220V of electricity and meant for use when on tour in Asia, is bought for local use in USA and subsequently returned often accompanied with a nasty "this is not working" letter blaming the seller for selling sub-standard products.
2. Back charging of credit card transactions - an irritating ecommerce disadvantage
Linked to above point, the customer will reject the charges. When that happens, the credit card company will not only reverse the credit but also levy a charge on your account. It wasn't your fault but you've got to shoulder it.
3. Data entry errors - silly mistakes that are potentially expensive
Glenn, the store clerk entered the price of a box of finest pears as $0.96 instead of $10.96. Over the next two days the store owner was swamped with hundreds of orders for Pears. The missing digit nearly wiped out the profits for that month. Friends swear they saw Allan the store owner laughing and crying at the same time. Meanwhile Glenn, thanks to Allan's generous heart, is now in the packing section.
4. The search engine fog - this a big disadvantage of ecommerce
If you set up a brick and mortar store at a prominent location, you get noticed instantly and will have customers from the moment you are open for business. This is not an advantage with ecommerce. In the virtual world, the only location that matters is the location in the search engine's search results. If you're not on the first page of the search results then you are relegated to the back alleys of cyberspace.
5. Can be equally expensive - hidden costs are a major drawback of ecommerce
True, you don't have to spend on utilities or staff or for that matter, even on an office. But setting up a good online store requires a lot of hard work by professional people. First, they need to build you a good online store and then, it needs to be marketed by. The people who do it need to have special skills and deep knowledge, both of which are expensive. Successful ecommerce internet marketing of your online store results in a good search engine rank. The downside of ecommerce is that, the moment you stop spending on e-marketing, the search engine rank begins to slip. In a brick and mortar store you have to pay premium rentals for a premium location. The equivalent of premium rentals for an online store is e-marketing.
6. Rogue web hosting - a major irritation in ecommerce
My dad used to say "It's so difficult to find good help these days". I say, it's very difficult to find good web hosting these days. Dropping rates have resulted in ecommerce web hosting services companies often running themselves on little more than hot air or recruiting staff who are clearly not competent. Any resulting down-time can prove potentially expensive. It is relatively easy to find good professional help to build and market your online store or office but finding good web hosting is a different matter altogether.
The Advantages of ecommerce
1. Location neutral - A fantastic advantage of ecommerce
How often have you heard the words "Location, location, location"? The first advantage of ecommerce is that it is location neutral. Every website is at a prime location and your customer only has to travel the distance of a single mouse click to reach you.
2. No need for supervisors and cashiers - ecommerce has a big cost advantage
An online store or online office does not need a separate set of supervisors or cashiers. At the most it needs one person monitoring the sales. Everything happens in a neat and orderly fashion. In fact, you can open as many online stores as you like for less than 5% of what it takes to set up a brick and mortar store or office.
3. Open 24 x 7, 365 days of the year - ecommerce does not take a break
You may be asleep but in other parts of the World, customers are awake and busy shopping. Ecommerce search engine optimization lets you take full advantage of this.
4. Go international from day one. Electronic commerce internationalizes your trade in an instant!
You've heard the term "global village" being bounced around by all and sundry. But did you know of its connection with your trade? By setting up an online store or online office, you reach out to customers irrespective of their location on the globe. For all practical purposes, you and your customers live in a village - a global village on an international scale. The advantage of ecommerce web site solutions truly boggles the mind.
5. Look Ma, no paper, no storage but I got money in the bank - Advantage of magic in ecommerce
Your online store emails you the orders; you collect them and email your suppliers the packing slips. Your suppliers ship out the orders. You don't have to stock anything and can be as paperless as you like. Even your cash is collected directly by your bank which emails you a monthly statement.