Since the introduction of e-commerce a few decades ago, the business sector has tremendously changed as a result of the efficiency that this new idea brought into the market. Both the merchants and consumers experienced a lot of changes. For the merchants, e-commerce enabled them to reach a wider customer base while using the least resources possible. They were also able to promote their merchandise at lower costs than they did in the past when they used a physical approach to market their goods and services on sale. To the consumers, things were never the same again. They would never again be required to move miles, trying to trace the merchants from their premises, to access the goods or services that they require from the traders. All that is required from them now is to get a smart gadget that can access the internet, log into the merchants’ websites and request the services that they would require. Their orders would then be delivered within hours or even minutes.
As a result of the e-commerce wave, a lot of individuals suffered losses of jobs since the merchants and traders who had employed them earlier had found new and cheaper alternatives to operate their business. In the past, whenever a trader wanted to expand their sales, they had to open new branches in various locations and towns in the country so that they could tap the market opportunities that were present in those regions. They, therefore, had to employ a lot of staff to run the branches. However, after the emergence of e-commerce, all the branches had to be shut down, which implied that the employees who worked in these stalls had to be laid off. This was quite detrimental to them and the families that relied on them as the sole breadwinners. Nevertheless, a revolution had to happen, and as they say, you can never stop an idea whose time has come.
However, despite the negative impact that the e-commerce wave had on the employees of the traders, a lot of companies and merchants benefited from the wave. One of the companies that benefited from this revolution was an organization that dealt with the computation of import and export duties in the past. Through the e-commerce revolution, their clients would manage to access them through their website, https://www.stitchlabs.com/learning-center/landed-cost-calculate-cost-imported-goods/, where they would offer their advice and insights regarding the cost of international trade. A lot of merchants who operated in the field of international trade found the platform very useful as they didn’t have to go looking for experts from their premises to receive their services.
One benefit that we could all agree to have emanated from the introduction of information technology into the business arena is the reduction of the cost of successfully running a business. In the past, traders had to pay for the physical space from where they operated their businesses. As we speak, in the e-commerce sector, these traders are required to have a virtual space by way of opening a social media account or even developing a website, where they can promote and sell their merchandise.