Question

Compare and contrast the communication barriers for a typical store you would go to versus an E-Commerce business that is online? (Hint...this doesn't have anything to do with the product).

Answer 1

Customers no longer need to take a trip to brick and mortar stores to make their purchases. The rise of digitalization has transformed the way companies operate. E-commerce companies still deal in goods and services, but now this takes place across multiple touchpoints within an online environment.

Although this has made shopping a lot easier, it has also brought with it some unique challenges.

According to Statista, in 2015, retail e-commerce sales amounted to $342.96 billion. By 2019 they are projected to surpass $600 billion. In the US alone, e-commerce retail will generate $100 billion by 2019. With these kinds of figures, the power and potential of e-commerce are clear.

This does not mean all e-commerce companies are making money consistently though. There are challenges standing in the way of companies, big and small alike. Developing an e-commerce business is hard. You have to take great care over everything, from website maintenance through to customer service.

1. Absence of online identity verification: Whether the customer information is genuine or not remains questionable. Cash-On-Delivery (COD) purchases using an invalid or fake phone numbers or addresses can lead to huge revenue losses.

2. Delivering an omnichannel customer experience: In today's world, customers may visit your website, contact your agent, leave a message on your social media page, shop from your store or contact you through a live chat or a messaging platform.

3. Competitor Analysis:In a competitive environment, others will offer the same products and services as you. Unless you have a strategy to differentiates yourself, it is difficult to survive.

4. Stuck in at the old-school way of approach to selling: Most of them lack the necessary insight into customer behavior and buying patterns, data which can help them thrive in the current e-commerce environment.

5. Shopping cart abandonment:Shopping cart abandonment is a huge issue. Even e-commerce giants are not immune to this problem.

6. Maintaining customer loyalty: Creating new customers and then maintaining them requires a massive effort. One of the reasons e-commerce companies in particular face a challenge in building customer trust and loyalty is the seller and buyer don’t know each other

7. The headache of product return and refund: A survey by comScore and UPS, showed 63% of American consumers check the return policy before making a purchase and 48% would shop more with retailers offering hassle-free returns. e-consumers are clearly conscious of return and refund policies. When a product is returned, whether due to a dissatisfied customer or damaged product, the business suffers a heavy loss in shipment and reputation. Logistic and shipping costs have always been problematic to e-commerce sellers delivering their product for free.

Aprt from this retail and online business have some similarities and difference.

8. both involve strategies with which to move products and services. The biggest differences may be in the ways the items are sold.

9. E-commerce operations don’t necessarily include a physical storefront, particularly when they begin. Instead, these “digital natives” sell products online through a website and virtual shopping cart. Orders are entered remotely, and the goods are then mailed to the customers.

10. Sale Transaction : Although technology is steadily advancing to allow remote exchanges such as Apple Pay and mobile transactions, most brick-and-mortar outlets accept only cash, credit cards, or checks as legal means for purchase of their goods and services.

11. E-commerce outfits also accept cards, but they don’t have a way to take payment by cash or checks. They can accept other options for completing a transaction such as PayPal. Some e-commerce platforms – but only the rare physical store – also accept cryptocurrency tender like Bitcoin.

12. Flexibility:Many large chain stores, such as Walmart, Target, or JC Penney, have adopted an omnichannel focus, which means they can connect with shoppers through more than a single channel or shopper touchpoint. They can send out SMS messages, contact you by email, provide information via their website, or chat with you via customer service representative on the phone. They can also accept alternate payment options, like Google Wallet or Amazon Payments.

13. Customer Attention

14. A prime challenge for e-commerce organizations is how to deliver a personalized experience to every consumer. You’re not physically present while people are shopping; although you’re effectively just an email, phone call, or chat box away, and consumers tend to crave instant gratification, which means they’ll often abandon a cart whenever they have a question rather than wait (or worse, have to search) for a response.

15. While in retail on the other hand, have an advantage in being able to provide – and even volunteer – immediate customer service. There is almost always someone right there in the store for visitors to talk to.

16. Operating Expenses Intuition says that e-commerce expenses are significantly lower than brick and mortar retail, which is one reason so many have started online businesses. However, it’s not always reality. E-commerce is not always more expensive, as a variety of factors influence this, including the industry segment, market values, marketing campaigns, business plans, and the owner’s financial dexterity. In all, depending on your business abilities and industry, one retail platform could be more affordable than the other. Increasingly, however, retailers are turning to both.

17. Pure-play e-commerce retailers can build a brand identity and begin to realize revenue, making a simple, advantageous start for themselves. But after an initial period of growth, infrastructure costs make it difficult to stay profitable. There are expensive shipping and return expenses, the massive costs of new customer acquisition, lost customers to a close competitor, and growing expenditures for increasing web hosting.