Ecommerce

What is ecommerce?

Ecommerce is also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce. It is the buying and selling of services through the internet and the transfer of money is completed online typically with a credit or debit card.

What is ecommerce website?

Ecommerce websites are portals that help facilitate the purchase of items online. It is how a potential customer interacts with your business. They can view your products and services for sale, add them to their cart, and finally submit a payment to finalize the sale.

Related: From Idea to Sale in Minutes: The Power of Ecommerce Landing Pages

What is an ecommerce platform?

Ecommerce platforms are tools to help manage ecommerce businesses. Depending on the site of your business it can be a complex solution or a simple payment processor. They can also include marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon.

How does ecommerce work?

Ecommerce websites work through several steps using code, databases, and other applications like a payment processor to complete an order.

1. A customer visits the website and is show a collection of items for sale that are shown based on a connection to the websites database.
2. After adding items to the cart, the visitor starts a check out process.
3. Credit card information is sent to a payment gateway to handle the payment processing in a secure manner.
4. Once the payment is complete, the website typically provides a confirmation page. Additionally a confirmation email may be sent.

Related: 4 Steps to Sell Digital Products & Make Money Online Fast

What are the 4 types of ecommerce?

Ecommerce is separated in 4 types of ecommerce:

1. B2B: Business to Business: This is where businesses create products or services to sell to other businesses. An example would be a Baker that wants to provide desserts to restaurants.
2. B2C: Business to Consumer: When businesses create products or services for individuals. This is the most common business type. A perfect example of this would an agency who designs custom invitations to sell to people who are throwing a party.
3. C2B: Consumer to Business: There are times where individuals have items to sell to companies. This is growing in demand as many folks start to grow their freelance businesses and want to sell their services to a bigger business.
4. C2C: Consumer to Consumer: Typically these are called online marketplaces. This type of ecommerce is when customers want to exchange goods and services for money or trade. Marketplaces like this were pioneered by eBay to help people connect and sell items online.

Does ecommerce really work?

Every year more and more businesses see success with ecommerce. There is a reduced overhead of a physical business location and you can reach a much broader audience than your local surroundings. WIth the growing trend there is increased competition, so for ecommerce to really work you need the right tools to put you ahead of your competition.

Related: 10 Best Ecommerce Tools to Sell More with Email Marketing

How to start an ecommerce website?

How you would approach starting an ecommerce website depends on what you are selling online. If you are selling digital products and services or a few physical products, you can set up a simple website or landing page dedicated to selling your item. If this is the category your business falls in AWeber has solutions to help you get started in 30 minutes for free.

If you are selling a large amount of items with a variety of SKUs, you can use and ecommerce marketplace like Etsy, Amazon, or Ebay or build out your own digital store with an ecommerce platform like Shopify or Woocommerce.

Related: How to Sell Online with Ecommerce Landing Pages