HOW CONVENIENT TODAY’S CONSUMERS GO FOR SHOPPING?

Today, the uses of internet become more popular in Malaysia. It is a virtual place, where people interact to share their ideas and build up the communities. Some people using the internet to do e-business promote a new way of doing business. The Internet is the world’s biggest shopping mall that allows enterprises to do their business with low cost involved, yet covering global market.

In Malaysia, we are lucky since our government is supported for those who are interested doing a e-business by offering package and grant, in order to encourage Malaysian to explore and experience to do a business beyond the boundaries.

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods or services over the internet. E-commerce refers only to online transactions. While e-business, derived from the term e-commerce, is the conducting of business on the internet, not only buying and selling but also customers and collaborating with their business partners.

The difference between e-commerce and e-business is that, e-business refers to online exchange of information as internet banking services provided by Bank Islam, Maybank2u and Affin On-line allowing their customers to review their banking, credit card and mortgage accounts transaction.

E-Commerce dive business processes by using the World Wide Web. It has been seen as a potentially growing business for today’s market. The traditional limitation of doing business soon will be replacing by technology for consumers to purchase goods and services. The services offered by bankers using the electronic payment provide opportunities for shoppers or consumers doing transaction online at anytime, anywhere and anyone. This is will bring many benefits for both companies and consumers. Personally,

I myself now pay all my bills online and never visit banks, post office and other telco company to pay my bills. Even to buy my stuffs as tudung, muslimah wear, handbag, perfumes and my supplements. My orders will be placed electronically and the product will be produced and shipped out without the cost of middlemen. 

I’ve seen, the e-commerce slowly eliminates my traditional way to purchase and manage my life better, which is less time-consuming. At the same time, e-commerce helps my company  doing effective business transaction by issuing purchase orders, obtaining approvals and tracing invoices via online compared to before, it lead to high transaction costs.

By having e-commerce and e-business, customers can reach a company on the internet globally for 24 hours. It creates new markets and segments, allow customers to make wise purchasing decisions and increases business competitiveness. Selling online would eliminate the costs involved in rental or buying a business space or building. Virtual server space would substitute for the costs of ideally located shop lots.

To those busy working mother (and the same time studying) likes me, sometime rarely that I have the ample time to go to shopping even for myself. So that I would prefer to go shopping online and visit the e-shop, preferably the local Malaysia business because to me, it more secure and trusted. E-shop is a version of retail store where I can shop at any hour without have to leaving my kids, office even during waiting my lecturer come to the class. I can visit the e-shop by using my phone, as long as supported by the internet to online.

E-commerce also helps the consumers to do the interactive communications with sellers, fast order delivery and more customization through online shopping. Product information in the internet is more compact and ranges from various sites. Users have more opportunity to choose and compare products as what they want to purchase or easily find and select specialized products not limited to in Malaysia but worldwide. As a Malaysian e-business entrepreneur, it provides more business opportunity to go global and international by promoting services and products in better quality and more variety of goods. By using website, social media networking will help the products information’s easy to be viewed by customers. In Aseans countries, Malaysia are still behind if we compared to Singapore.  The online transaction in Malaysia is not as popular as in developing countries.

As e-business growth and improve from day to day, we as a user will experience the advantage and disadvantages using online transaction for shopping or business transaction. 

The benefits is, it highly accessible where the service is 24/7, if the e-business and e-commerce business provider provide a quality service and goods, it can increase and create customer loyalty, convenience and it also will increase a global reach when the customers keep posting a good comments to the social networking as Facebook, Twitter and Blogs. Significantly, the benefits to the businesses, it will help also seller to reduce their costs since there is low operation costs. Sometimes, they (sellers) do not have a shop but only online catalogue.

The facts, this e-business and e-commerce transaction will keep increasing tomorrow  The challenges in using the e-business as a customers is, how the online transaction can protects our financial security and personal information’s from illegal or harmful goods because sometime occurs a cyber-fraud, besides that, it also will increase our liability. Not all the internet user, aware about the internet commerce law. The company should provide the privacy systems with safeguard to protect their customers. Due to the expending of e-business and e-commerce, we as a customer, should be aware and know what our right is.

Source : Business Driven Technology, Palge Baltzan, 3rd Ed, McGraw-Hill
             http://umepublication.um.edu.my/filebank/published_article/1849/173.pdf
             http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~spring/papers/CurStateE-B.htm