{"id":21597,"date":"2019-02-25T08:48:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T03:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenworldinvestor.com\/?p=21597"},"modified":"2019-02-25T08:48:34","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T03:18:34","slug":"the-rise-of-e-commerce-business-and-its-impact-on-ecology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/2019\/02\/25\/the-rise-of-e-commerce-business-and-its-impact-on-ecology\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of E-commerce Business and its Impact on Ecology"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: justify;\">All You Wanted to Know About E-commerce<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>E-commerce<\/strong> is a formidable force that is changing the market dynamics. it is a popular go-to solution for most online entrepreneurs and shoppers. It has significantly replaced the traditional brick and mortar stores. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mobile devices account for 70% of e-commerce traffic. More and more people are reaching out to e-commerce stores for their shopping needs. E-commerce is expected to account for 17% of the entire retail sales by 2022 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">according to Digital Commerce 360<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even as e-commerce continues to capture the hearts of many shoppers, the environmental footprint of e-commerce business remains a hushed conversation. Is it all glitter or is there a dark side to online shopping on the environment?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>What is E-commerce Business?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce or electronic commerce business is an umbrella description of buying and selling of products and services on an online platform. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetop10sites.com\/ecommerce\/sell-online.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s all about selling online<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are <em>three core types of e-commerce models<\/em> which are differentiated based on:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenworldinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/money.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-507\" src=\"http:\/\/www.greenworldinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/money.jpg\" alt=\"Money\" width=\"150\" height=\"93\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/money.jpg 150w, https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/money-121x75.jpg 121w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width:767px) 150px, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The types of products on sale<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The types of consumers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The platform for selling the product<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce platforms focus on four main products for sale:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital products<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Physical products<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Affiliates<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Services<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Physical products are tangible goods that are shipped to the consumer from a warehouse. Digital products are not tangible products. These are sold online as digital files you can download. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Businesses can also outsource in-person or digital services online to customers including pet training services (in-person services) or media streaming services (digital services). <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses such as affiliate marketing rely on affiliates. A business earns commissions through affiliate links following a sale. Examples include blogs or websites that sell products online.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses are also defined by their target market. There are <em>three core classes of e-commerce business consumer market.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b><b>Business to Business (B2B) <\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses outsource their products and services to other businesses. They include advertising firms and stock sales.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b><b>Business to Consumer (B2C)<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses sell their products or services to consumers. They include Amazon and online travel booking companies.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b><b>Consumer to Consumer (C2C)<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses where one consumer auctions his products or services to another consumer. The purchase occurs via online marketplaces such as Facebook, eBay, and Craigslist.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b><b>Business to Government (B2G)<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses outsource their products or services to government agencies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses can sell their products on <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">various platforms<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> including;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><b>a) E-commerce marketplaces<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An e-commerce business sells its products or services on online marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, and Etsy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><b>b) Branded e-commerce stores<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are e-commerce platforms owned and managed by the founders. The creators sell their own products and include Shopify and Big Commerce.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><b>c) Conversational commerce<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses sell their products or services on social media platforms. These platforms include Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or Pinterest.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Why e-commerce business is attractive to most entrepreneurs<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can build your own business empire from scratch and platforms like Shopify allow you to set up an online store with zero charges.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlimited access to a rich depth of audience around the globe<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be your own boss <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freedom to work from anywhere &#8211; on a virtual office in any location in the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Offers a profitable side project or full-time gig<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>How e-commerce Business affects the environment<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Environmental implications of e-commerce have a significant positive and negative impact on the environment.<\/span><b><br \/>\n<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Positive Impact of e-commerce Business:<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce businesses showcase a positive footprint on the environment including;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b><b>Reduced Carbon Footprint<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online e-commerce businesses consume 30% less energy than traditional brick and mortar stores. Brick and mortar stores need lighting, security applications, cash registers, and temperature regulators to be installed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The employees expend energy commuting to and from the work premises. Transport is a major contributor to large emissions of carbon dioxide to the environment. E-commerce businesses reduce their carbon footprint. How? By allowing employees to work from a virtual office. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shopping online also reduces commuter traffic to stores and malls which in turn reduces carbon emissions. Online businesses enable paperless transactions by using electronic receipts for purchases.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b><b>Secondary Market for used Goods<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online platforms give a new lease of life to your worn out products. eBay is a platform that allows millions of consumers to sell their old goods online. It provides a better alternative to disposing of them in bins which contributes to waste and pollution. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce has created a longer lifespan for consumer goods. Auctioning of used products at large scale reduces wastage and increases market efficiency for second-hand goods. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the years, a giant online market for secondary material especially vintage clothing has grown drastically.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Negative Impact of E-commerce Business<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even though E-commerce stores save us the hustle of traditional shopping they present a dark side to conserving our environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b><b>Increased Energy Consumption<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Faster delivery requirements can mean trucks move half empty. Faster transportation models increase fuel consumption especially when we favor trucks over the rail. Energy use racks up by a large degree as consumer preferences shift to faster delivery to satisfy the impatient modern shopper.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><b><b>Increased Carbon Footprint<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The modern shopper is impatient. Same day or fast delivery solutions increase the carbon footprint. Most of the goods will be delivered using air and road since rail and sea are slow. The distance driven per item to each consumer increases drastically scaling up the carbon footprint. Also, home deliveries and subsequent customer returns increase traffic and carbon emissions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Investing in low emission delivery trucks, dispatching tracks when full plus ensuring uniform delivery time are examples of strategies e-commerce business can adopt for sustainable business practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also crucial to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asosplc.com\/corporate-responsibility\/our-business\/packaging-and-waste\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">use recyclable delivery bags<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or ask the consumer to return the bags. The challenge facing most businesses is designing packaging to that is 100% sustainable<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>The Bottom Line<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce is a better business model for most entrepreneurs. But to ensure sustainable e-commerce the entire sales process needs to be digitized from the beginning to the end. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-commerce business is a double-edged sword with a positive side as well as a dark side. But with further improvements on its negative side, it will only get better. E-commerce is to shopping like what Badoo is to relationships. We just can\u2019t do without it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>About the Author<\/em>:<em> This article is contributed by Mark. He is a finance enthusiast and writes about different market trends.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All You Wanted to Know About E-commerce E-commerce is a formidable force that is changing the market dynamics. it is a popular go-to solution for most<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[88,28],"tags":[369,3735,4090,5513,5888,5998],"class_list":["post-21597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-indian-capital-markets","category-greeninvest","tag-all-about-e-commerce","tag-negative-impact-of-e-commerce-business","tag-positive-impact-of-e-commerce-business","tag-the-rise-of-e-commerce-business-and-its-impact-on-ecology","tag-what-is-e-commerce-business","tag-why-e-commerce-business-is-attractive-to-most-entrepreneurs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iiec-india.org\/greenworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}