What is E-Commerce?
Electronic commerce or e-commerce, refers to the process of buying and selling of goods and services in other words a business transaction over the internet.
It includes the transfer of money, funds and data to execute the transactions.
It uses certain technologies to meet the requirements of these processes which include electronic funds transfer, mobile commerce, internet marketing, supply chain management, online transaction processing, EDI and automated data collecting systems.
Although e-commerce is used to refer to the sale of physical products, it can also be describing any kind of commercial transactions through the internet. There are four ways by which these transactions can be done: Business to Customer (B2C), Business to Business (B2B), Customer to Business (C2B) and Customer to Customer (C2C).
Online stores like Amazon, Flipkart and eBay are examples of e-commerce websites. The different forms of e-commerce can include retail selling, wholesale selling, drop shipping, crowdfunding and subscription.
The products can be physical, digital or services. Since it refers specifically to the transactions of goods and services, it is to be differentiated from e-business which refers to all the aspects of operating an online business.
What is Digital Commerce?
Digital Commerce or D-Commerce is a subcategory of e-commerce used by companies to deliver products online.
However it is not just the process of online transactions, it also includes marketing, selling, servicing, R&D, and procuring products for all types of platforms which include social networks, desktops, and mobiles.
These activities are used to implement the offering of promotion, analytics, development content, pricing, customer service, customer achievement and retention and consumer experience at all touchpoints throughout the process of procurement. Digital commerce has merged the disciplines of marketing and selling.
It has become a single continuous activity that includes creating awareness, build engagement, conversion tracking, transaction history, and repeat purchases. There is also tremendous scope for digital transformation within d-commerce. Digital commerce deals with digital goods and services, not tangible ones.
Examples include downloadable music, e-books, webinars, online education, downloadable software, web hosting, software as a service (SaaS), streaming services, mobile apps and digital currency.
How does D-Commerce differ from E-Commerce?
- Digital commerce products are intangible and in only digital formats to consume with digital devices whereas e-commerce products can be tangible, digital or services.
- You can sell the same digital products repeatedly by providing a link to its cloud or online storage whereas with e-commerce the tangible products involve single transactions.
- Digital commerce products include eBooks, learning courses, photography, multimedia content, digital assets, themes, templates, extensions, software, software components, digital arts, and web development, and mobile app development whereas e-commerce products can be any type that one would find in a brick and mortar store.
- With digital commerce software or services are delivered online. The products are created and uploaded on a hosting platform or marketplaces like websites and mobile apps and therefore have no requirements for warehouse, inventory and shipping management. E-commerce will have these requirements and therefore higher overhead expenditures.
- D-commerce is also at an advantage in that it is free from product-related issues like perishing, damages, and wear and tear issues.
- E-commerce has to face issues of returns, and refunds which D-commerce avoids.
- It is easier to automate the selling process on D-commerce sites as well as expand to affiliate sites.
- D-commerce does have a disadvantage, it often requires extensive customization according to the digital product you sell and the target audience that consumes it because of the unique requirements consumers may have of the user interface, features and functionality.
What has led to the shift from E-Commerce to D-Commerce?
Users have begun to use digital platforms to procure services and products as mobile devices and internet usage have increased.
And as soon as the businesses understood the shift in their consumers’ behavior, they began scaling up their business models and focusing on digital channels to improve their retail experience.
Customers’ expectations are being restructured by competition, which includes direct competitors, experiential competitors, and eternal influencers, all of whom are generating new hopes in customers’ minds.
Consumers are buying more products from the same companies because they deliver solutions and products that satisfy their expectations, resulting in higher levels of satisfaction.
