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Article regarding whether online presence is important for small businesses

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Article regarding whether online presence is important for small businesses

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Some decent statistics in this article

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The majority of Britain's smallest companies still don't have a website, new research has found, which is hampering business growth and confidence.

The report by domain supplier GoDaddy showed that 60pc of UK businesses with five employees or less - which constitute almost a fifth of Britain's small business population - are lacking an online presence.

Of the 500 micro-businesses polled for the research, 54pc of the business owners who did not have a website said they were worried about their future prospects and were expecting zero growth over the next three to five years.

This compared to the bullish growth ambitions of companies with a website; 60pc said that their revenues would grow by 50pc or more during that period.

Websites, which are often referred to as the "shop window to the world" both boost brand awareness and, when coupled with an online shop, can significantly boost revenues.

British shoppers already spend almost £1 in every £5 of their shopping via the internet.

Some 56pc of businesses experienced increased sales growth in the two years after their website launched, the report said, and 75pc of small businesses with a website said they think they have a competitive advantage over businesses without one.

Business owners identified three key reasons for failing to invest in a digital presence: 35pc said they were too small to warrant a website; 19pc said they didn't have enough time to build one; and one in five claimed that the cost was the major prohibiting factor.

Despite these challenges, a third of the companies without a website said they were planning to create one within the next two years, although 66pc haven't yet picked a domain name.

"There are over five million small businesses in the UK, with a further 500,000 new businesses set to be added this year alone," said Stefano Maruzzi, GoDaddy vice president for Europe. "While we take it for granted in this digital age that everyone is online, the reality is many of the smallest businesses are still to make the leap.

"Large and medium-sized companies learned a long time ago that the most effective way to reach customers globally was through the Internet. It seems that many of their smaller peers are about to do the same, which will change how they grow, how they communicate and perhaps even what they sell.

"That could have a big impact on small business growth and transformation in the UK, as well as economic growth as a whole."

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Britain's smallest businesses still failing to get online

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The majority of Britain's smallest companies still don't have a website, new research has found, which is hampering business growth and confidence. The report by domain supplier GoDaddy showed that 60pc of UK businesses with five employees or less - which constitute almost a fifth of Britain's small business population - are lacking an online presence.

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Amazon refuses to reimburse businesses over 1p stock price error

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Amazon refuses to reimburse businesses over 1p stock price error

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Amazon refuses to compensate sellers for 1p price glitch

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Retailers say they have also been offered nothing by third-party company whose software caused the problem

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This and the Prime psuedo-exclusivity are some examples that Amazon isn't flawless and that criticisms of the business are not exclusive to their treatment of workers.

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Amazon reverses 'backward' decision to remove encryption from Fire tablets

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Facing criticism for removing default encryption from its latest version of the Fire operating system, Amazon has said it will reinstate encryption this spring

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Amazon to start selling fresh and frozen Morrisons food

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Bradford-based supermarket becomes first of big four to sign a deal with the online retailer

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Netflix has the USP of absolute exclusivity. Amazon Prime's weird psuedo-exclusivity can be an example of 'exclusivity as a USP' gone wrong.

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Games and films become members-only as Amazon pushes Prime

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The online retailer's members' service is growing, with popular games and films moving behind the velvet rope

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boohoo | Womens & Mens Clothes | Shop Online Fashion

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Shop boohoo's range of womens and mens clothing for the latest fashion trends you can totally do your thing in, with 100s of new styles landing every day!

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Britain's new entrepreneurs: young guns go for it

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Today's internet-savvy students are starting their own businesses and forging their own path in life... and here are seven prime examples

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The secret behind Amazon's low prices: Study reveals how e-commerce giant fools consumers by constantly changing costs

Online marketplace makes millions of individual price changes a day

For instance, when a best-selling router was priced 20 per cent below Walmart's price, a different model was priced 29 per cent more expensive

Study found when Amazon offers big discounts on popular products, such as a TV, it will increase the prices of its less popular items to make a profit

This technique harnesses the 'psychology of price perception' in buyers

You might think Amazon is the cheapest place to go for online purchases, but a new study has revealed this isn't always the case.

Researchers have found that the Seattle-based company fools users into thinking they are getting a good deal by tweaking their prices a number of times each hour.

Overall, the study found that the online marketplace harnesses the 'psychology of price perception' in buyers by making millions of individual price changes a day.

For instance, when it's offering its biggest discounts on popular products, such as a TV, it will increase the prices of its less popular items to make a profit.

According to a white paper by Boomerang Commerce, the technique means Amazon often appears to be beating its competition on low prices.

'Amazon may not actually be the lowest-priced seller of a particular product in any given season,' the report reads.

'But its consistently low prices on the highest viewed and best-selling items drive a perception among consumers that Amazon has the best prices overall - even better than Walmart.'

AMAZON HAS 1P SALE AFTER A GLITCH MISPRICES THOUSANDS OF ITEMS

Boomerang uses the example of a $350 (£230) Samsung TV that was discounted $250 (£165) on Black Friday.

But at the same time, Amazon increased the price of the HDMI cable needed for the TV, as the product would not change the price perception of the larger purchase.

Another example, according to Business Insider, is when a best-selling router was priced 20 per cent below Walmart's price, a different model was priced at 29 per cent more expensive than it cost on Walmart.

'Competitive pricing has moved beyond weekly adjustments and price matching,' said Guru Hariharan, founder Boomerang Commerce.

'The Producer Price Index sheds light on the complexity and the speed at which retailers adjust their pricing to drive buyers and revenue.'

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The secret behind Amazon's low prices revealed

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Online marketplace makes millions of individual price changes a day For instance, when a best-selling router was priced 20 per cent below Walmart's price, a different model was priced 29 per cent more expensive Study found when Amazon offers big discounts on popular products, such as a TV, it will increase the prices of its less popular items to make a profit This technique harnesses the 'psychology of price perception' in buyers You might think Amazon is the cheapest place to go for online purchases, but a new study has revealed this isn't always the case.

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Amazon under investigation for contract restrictions

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Amazon under investigation for contract restrictions

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European commission to investigate Amazon's ebook dominance

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US tech sector's problems with Brussels deepen as competition chief focuses on allegedly restrictive contract clauses

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The internet is a phenomenon in itself. The rate of which it has been adopted is huge and the rate it changes is incredible.

This post is tackling the psychological & sociological implications of online marketing, advertising and e-commerce.

In the early days of the internet it was only used by those who could, not necessarily for a purpose, but to see what could be done. As the Internets popularity grew, business's caught onto the potential market that the internet provided and the early adopters of e-commerce are now among some of the biggest e-commerce websites in the world, for example Amazon and eBay.

Advantages & Disadvantages

There are both advantages and disadvantages to e-commerce for both the business and the customers. Bricks and mortar is a traditional method of going about commerce. You will have the costs of a building and the resources to run it. Also staff to manage & run the premises. With this the potential market is significantly lower than an online business. It is physically impossible to target China if your premises was situated in the UK. With e-commerce you get the benefit of being able to target the entire world and not just a specific area. This means there is a much higher chance of being able to sell your products/services as the potential market is far greater. This has an advantage for the consumer as well, the ability to potentially find products that may not be accessible from your area/country.

By taking a business online the cost is being lowered for both the business owner and the consumer. It requires less man power to run an online store than to run a traditional store. With money being saved for the businesses they can then pass some of these savings to the consumer therefore being far more competitive with shops on a high street & other online retailers.

With the increase of internet enabled devices such as smartphones, tablets, even fridges! The internet is becoming even more pervasive with the ability to access it from so many different pieces of technology.

Accessibility

Accessibility has been the key to the success of e-commerce. The easier something is to access, the more likely people are going to view information or products and so on. Due to the internet and information on the internet being available to anybody with an internet enabled device anywhere they have an internet connection, people are becoming lazy; People are much less likely to go to a shop due to the ease that e-commerce websites provide. In some circumstances bricks and mortar are the preferred choice. This can depend on what the consumer is looking for and also if they understand online shopping. The web is changing rapidly and the technology is also improving which means that websites are becoming far easier to use and to find which in turn attracts more consumers.

Usability is also another key point in having a successful e-commerce website. The biggest names on the web today are there because they understand how there users want to use their websites. Internet users are not the most patient of people, they want a reaction almost instantly and with a slow loading site, decide to leave and find another source. The internet has provided people with a "god-like power" and feel they can do anything online with incredible ease and speed.

So far so good? Everything points to the advantages of e-commerce.

Personal touch

You do loose that personal touch and the friendly feel of a physical shop when online. You cannot feel the products you are buying, which can potentially put people off depending on the situation. Sometimes you will order a product online and not have the same way of processing the size of a product or feel of a product. This process will actually take longer when you think that you have to order the item, wait for it to be delivered, then feel and physically see the item and then make a decision if it was what you wanted or not. You will then have to return it and receive something else in its place which could potentially take a few days.

Scams

With the advances in technology and the internet and what is known as web 2.0 giving users the ability to create content, it open up doors to scams. One very simple example of this is the fact that you can sell something online within minutes. Places such as eBay provide a market place for anybody to sell online which is fantastic and provides many benefits to people but some people will take advantages of that and could use it to sell fake or stolen products. I have been deceived on eBay and bought a fake product and however good the product was, it was still a lie, and I felt betrayed so returned the item.

Addiction

With anything, people can become addicted to the use of something. Smoking, drinking, drugs & gambling are all addictive and seriously affect people lives. People have been known to lose all of their money, their jobs, their house and even their families. It doesn't start this way though. It starts off small and slowly progresses to larger and more frequent bets until the point where it causes serious financial issues. You could argue the fact that an addiction to online gambling is the same as an addiction to traditional forms of gambling and that gambling has just evolved with the popularity of the internet. People have been addicted to gambling before the internet existed so really the internet is just another means of gambling that happens to be far more accessible.

Advertising

Advertising online is quite brilliant in the way that it has evolved. It started off in the more traditional fashion of just advertising products with promotional media such as banners and videos and emails. The brilliant part of advertising in recent years is the fact that it is tailored to the user. I can be looking at a website for a review on a product and see to one side they are advertising products I previously looked at on Amazon. Recently I was looking at buying a DSLR camera and a high majority of advertisements I saw afterwards were based around DLSR's. I did in fact buy one when I didn't necessarily need it; I just wanted it to turn photography into a hobby. This can benefit you in the sense that it provides you with personalised advertisements for products that you may want or are appealing to you and with a price to match and encourage you to buy it. That same fact is also its downfall. With online gambling, there are people who have become addicted to online shopping resulting in potentially catastrophic effects. If you look somewhere in-between these two points though you can argue the fact that it is just encouraging people to buy things they don't need but just feel the need for. It's much harder to avoid the urge to spend when everywhere you look online, there is some form of advertising.

There are a high quantity of advertisements for online gambling websites which personally can only be negative as it is encouraging people to gamble. Gambling addiction has a massive effect on people's lives and not just the people who gamble to excess, it's the family and friends and people around them that are also effected.

Conclusion

Well, there isn't necessarily a conclusion. This look into e-commerce has shown both the advantages and disadvantages to e-commerce and the potential effects it can have on society and individuals. I personally love shopping online and will continue to for the advantages and also the love of technology and how far we have come with the internet especially.

It will be interesting to see what the e-commerce industry evolves into with the rapid growth of the industry and how it will further effect society.

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The Effects of E-commerce on Society | Kieron Marr - Web Designer & Developer

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The internet is a phenomenon in itself. The rate of which it has been adopted is huge and the rate it changes is incredible. This post is tackling the psychological & sociological implications of online marketing, advertising and e-commerce.

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Sort of a form of E-commerce taking over the standard market.

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Adam Sandler signs exclusive four films deal with Netflix

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US comic actor and producer will collaborate on four films with the streaming service, upping Netflix's competition with cinema chains, writes Ben Child

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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, you'll be
aware of the huge buzz (no pun intended) surrounding Google+, the search
giant's latest foray into the world of social networking.
Google learned some harsh lessons from the failure of Buzz and Wave, and
based on initial impressions it looks as though they've done a much
better job this time around.

The product is currently in limited beta, but Google's policy of
initially inviting the social media ecosphere of bloggers, gurus and
assorted hangers-on is certainly paying some handsome PR dividends.

Across Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora (and yes, even Facebook), you'll be
hearing the great and the good praising the new platform, telling us how
great it looks, how useful it is and generally flaunting their early
access like Wayne and Garth with a backstage pass.

If you're on Google+ then hey, you must be an influencer right?

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10 amazing e-commerce infographics - Econsultancy

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I've rounded up ten recent infographics on e-commerce and related issues, including delivery, social commerce, and how the use of colour affects purchase habits. Where possible, I've added the infographics to this post in a readable size, but for others you can click on the image to see a larger version...

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A Brief Introduction of TOP 25 E-commerce Websites:

Nowadays with the globalization of the economy, more and more traditional business companies begin to move their strategic priority to the Internet. As for the newest statistics, the online trading amount was already over 250 billion US-dollars in the United States last year. Here is a list of 25 most popular e-commerce websites which are collected by our editors.

1. Amazon

As a leading online shopping website in the United States, Amazon Inc. has been ranked as world-largest retail and wholesale e-commerce platform for many years. Founded in July 1994 by Jeff Bezos, and headquartered in Seattle, Amazon has extended its business to every corner of the planet.

2. Alibaba

Founded in 1999 by Jack Ma (Ma Yun), and headquartered in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba is a privately held Internet corporation that is proudly to be ranked as world-largest business-to-business (B2B) online web portals. In August 2012, Alibaba generated over $170 billion in sales, which are even more than the combination of its competitors eBay and Amazon.

3. Tmall

Tmall.com was first introduced by Taobao Mall in April 2008, which is a dedicated platform that allows suppliers to sell products or services to consumers. As for the latest statistics, Tmall occupies over 55% of Chinese business-to-commerce market.

4. eBay

The company eBay was founded in Sep 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, and headquartered in California, United States, is an American multinational Internet consumer-to-consumer corporation.

5. LightInTheBox

LightInTheBox is a professional and reliable online shopping website that provides a huge amounts of hot selling products and services at reasonable prices and shipping them globally.

6. FocalPrice

FocalPrice is a leading online electronic shopping cart website that offers featured products made in China, including tablet pc, Apple iPhone accessories, smart phones, car accessories, etc.

7. JD.com

JD.com is one of the top online shopping center that offers over 3 million products at discounted prices. All of their products are high quality and support free shipping across the country.

8. Groupon

Groupon (derived from "group coupon") is an international corporation that offers discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies at daily deals.

9. MeiTuan

Founded by Wang Xing and headquartered in Beijing, China, Meituan.com has become the largest group-buying website in Asia, which is specializing in localized consumer services, offering a selection of local restaurants, bars and more.

10. Jumei

Jumei.com is a leading cosmetic group-buying shopping website in China, positions itself as the most popular and professional e-commerce website for women's services.

11. DHGate.com

DHGate.com is the 2nd (only behind Alibaba.com) largest business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce website in China, connecting China-based small and medium-sized enterprises with international buyers.

12. Flipkart.com

Founded in 2007 by Sachin and Binny, and headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, Flipkart has become one of the most popular e-commerce companies in India.

13. ASOS.com

Founded in June 2000 by Nick Robertson and Quentin Griffiths, headquartered in London, England, ASOS.com has established itself as the UK's largest online-only fashion and beauty stores.

14. LEGO Shop

LEGO Shop is operated by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billnud, Denmark. The company began manufacturing interlocking toy bricks in 1949, and now they've become one the most famous toy manufacturers on the planet.

15. Zara Shop

Founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and Rosalia Mera, headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia, Zara has established itself as the leading clothing and accessories retailer in Spanish.

16. ParknShop

Founded in 1973 by Li Jiacheng, ParknShop has made itself as one of the 2 largest supermarket chains in Hongkong (the other is Wellcome). At present, ParknShop operates 260+ outlets in Macao, Hongkong and Mainland China. In 2013, ParknShop was sold to A.S. Watson Group with an expected price of US$3 billion to US$4 billion.

17. H&M

H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB) is a multinational retail-clothing company based in Sweden, well-known for its fast-fashion designing for women, men, children and teenagers clothing.

18. HBO Store

HBO Store sells products and gifts based on its popular HBO TV shows, including Game of Thrones, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, and The Newsroom, etc.

19. Nike Store

Nike, Inc. is a multinational corporation based in America, which is engaged in the design, development and manufacturing footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services world-wide.

20. NBAStore.com

The NBA Store is focused on selling merchandise for the National Basketball Association (NBA), and its most prominent store is located in Manhattan, New York.

21. JCPenney

J.C.Penny (JCPenny) is a well-known American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas. At present, the company is operating over 1,100 department stores in all 50 U.S. states.

22. IndiaTimes Shopping

Indiatimes Shopping is the largest media conglomerate in India, servicing its customers through various channels including online, selling over phone and also selling in bulk through B2B channel.

23. Nordstrom Online

Founded in 1901 by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Nordstorm, Inc. is a leading upscale fashion retailer
in the United States.

24. QVC.com

QVC.com refers to "Quality, Value and Convenience", which was founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel and headquartered in Pennsylvania, United States. The company is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping.

25. GoogleStore.com

GoogleStore.com is the official shopping website operated by Google, an American multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and products.

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25 World Largest Online Ecommerce Shopping Websites

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Nowadays with the globalization of the economy, more and more traditional business companies begin to move their strategic priority to the Internet. As for the newest statistics, the online trading amount was already over 250 billion US-dollars in the United States last year.

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stake holders within the order system of e-commerce benefits

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Orders Management: The Impact on Key Stakeholders | Handshake

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If you think improved orders management will impact only your sales team, think again. See how this technology can affect key stakeholders across your team.|If you think improved orders management will impact only your sales team, think again. See how this technology can affect key stakeholders across your team.

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There are lots of articles on a poor culture at Amazon. Any trends with E-commerce cultures?

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Jeff Bezos defends Amazon after NYT exposé of working practices

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Chief executive said in an internal email that the New York Times article did not describe the Amazon he knew

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Skype down Monday 21st September 2015...

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A problem with Skype's status system has been fixed, after many people were unable to use the service.

Reports about Skype being unavailable started at about 09:00 BST on Monday in the UK.

But just after midnight on Tuesday, Skype said services had been fully restored.

In a statement, Skype-owner Microsoft said it had "detected an issue with the status settings" on Skype that show if someone is online or not.

The problem locked many people's status as offline - stopping them making calls even though they were connected.

In addition, said Microsoft, all the contacts of affected users would show as offline meaning they would not be able to call those people.

Many Skype users in the UK, Australia and Japan have all reported problems.

Skype support staff acknowledged the issue in a tweet and said the firm was working on a "quick fix".

In a lengthier statement put on its blog, it said: "The status issue also doesn't affect Skype for web, which can be used to make calls and send instant messages."

In a later message, posted at 16:00 BST it said it had identified the problem.

"We're in the process of reconnecting our users, and focused on restoring full service. The issue did not affect Skype for Business users," it said.

It also apologised for the inconvenience being caused.

Several users contacted the BBC to discuss how they had been affected.

"What is annoying me is that my eldest son is far away in Japan and Skype is our main method of contact," said Howard Wensley from Blackpool.

Florence Morimon from Norwich added: "I am a freelance translator and French tutor so this kind of problem affect directly my business. I had to use Google Hangouts to make a video call this morning, but the quality is not as good."

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A problem with Skype's status system has been fixed, after many people were unable to use the service. Reports about Skype being unavailable started at about 09:00 BST on Monday in the UK. But just after midnight on Tuesday, Skype said services had been fully restored.

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The Guardian has a whole section for E-Commerce News

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China is the biggest e-commerce market in the world, with an expected $562.7 billion in online sales this year, according to a recent report from Remarkety.

The report was based on an analysis of projected e-commerce sales data for 2015, including transactions on desktop computers and mobile devices.

The United States is the second-largest e-commerce market, with $349.1 billion in projected sales for 2015.

The United Kingdom is third ($93.9 billion), followed by Japan ($79.3 billion), Germany ($74.4 billion), France ($42.6 billion), South Korea ($36.8 billion), Canada ($28.8 billion), Russia ($20.3 billion), and Brazil ($18.8 billion).

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The Top 10 Global E-Commerce Markets [Infographic]

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China is the biggest e-commerce market in the world, with an expected $562.7 billion in online sales this year, according to a recent report from Remarkety. The report was based on an analysis of projected e-commerce sales data for 2015, including transactions on desktop computers and mobile devices.

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Website to keep an eye on

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Ecommerce News is a daily blog featuring news about the ecommerce industry in Europe. We write about cross-border, payments, omnichannel and much more!

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Simple video explanation

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£60

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tutor2u | The Exam Performance Specialists

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tutor2u partners with teachers & schools to help students maximise their performance in important exams & fulfill their potential.

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Link to their BUSS4 blog for our research theme...

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Even conservative estimates put e-commerce growth at 16 percent growth every year in the U.S., or doubling every five years. While Amazon, and the countless brick-and-mortars with an online presence still hold a lot of the market share, there are still quite a few business opportunities out there to break into the market.

Here's some insight into recent market trends that I've gleaned while working with some very knowledgeable entrepreneurs:

1. The sharing/rental economy remains in vogue. Sites like RentTheRunway and AirBnB are redefining their respective markets. AirBnB started with a need for cheap accommodations during travel, especially around conferences, and evolved into a massive marketplace that has redefined short and even long-term access to living space. This took a lot of time and struggle; at one point, the founders sold Obama O's cereal to keep the company afloat.

2. Prime for all. ShopRunner caught onto the fact that customers were having a phenomenal experience when using Amazon Prime (in fact, consumer surveys show upwards of 43% of consumers will associate a good delivery experience with the e-commerce company, even if it's not in their control). Therefore, they were able to pitch all of Amazon's competitors to offer 2-day shipping through them and essentially create a competitor to the Prime user experience (Amazon vs. the rest, but Amazon will still probably win...).

3. Merging online and offline. recently launched their shopping express offering, giving you same day delivery for free. Why? Because brick-and-mortar stores are being eroded by e-commerce and Google found an opportunity to provide offline services and speeds with an online interface and user experience. Only time will tell if it's sustainable.

4. Niche solutions for our increasingly busy lives. Many people love , but everyone hates the wait time for the Genius Bar. Enter a company callediCracked, which offers an asynchronous repair of iPhones and other Mac products.

E-Commerce Is Growing, And So Are The Problems It Creates
You can start by solving some of the frictions e-commerce creates -- that's what inspired us to get started. We realized e-comm was growing rapidly, but couldn't see how the end user actually benefited from the experience when he or she was not around to receive the packages.

That turned out to be a huge opportunity. In urban markets, up to 40% of deliveries are missed at least once. Before us, you could:

Get your packages delivered to work. It usually works, but beware of mail room delays, nosy neighbors and having to lug the package home after work.

Forward the call. If you live in an apartment, sometimes you can have your buzzer forward the call to your cell phone so you can unlock the gate for the delivery person. Ringo is a paid service that will manage that for you, but it's tricky.

Get your packages delivered to a corner grocer.They tend to be trustworthy folks and will happily receive your packages since you'll probably buy something when you go to pick it up.

Get your packages held at UPS or the Post Office. Hours are terrible and you need different solutions for different carriers.

Since none of those solutions worked for everyone (or for that matter, worked for us), we at Swapbox wanted to fix this problem. We had personal motivation, a clear pain point, and eventually an effective solution.
Identifying New E-Commerce Opportunities
What's left to be solved in e-commerce? A lot. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Need to make returns? Tough. Along with increased online shopping comes an increased need for easy returns. There are a few high-end sites that will let you do returns for free, but that's not the norm. Not even Amazon has that policy (though maybe one day they'll send a drone to pick it up!). But if you get a membership to a site like Return Saver, which allows you to pay a membership fee and return as much as you want through ground (with some caveats), you don't have to worry about it.

2. The fit problem. Clothing and accessories are a huge part of e-commerce, but ordering apparel online has one huge disadvantage to in-store purchases...you can't try it on. One company, MTailor, took a creative approach to this problem and decided to come up with computer vision solution that uses an app to get your measurements algorithmically. They purport to be 20% more accurate than a tailor.

3. Delivery solutions for other necessary products. I still get my medicine from a pharmacy, but in today's day and age, I shouldn't have to. While there are a lot of solutions tied to specific pharmacies, I would gladly pay for a service that can be used by any provider. The difficulty here is around getting distribution licenses and dealing with state by state regulations around legal drugs.

There's plenty more out there. The magic of e-commerce is really in creatively alleviating points of friction. It's up to you to explore.
Neel Murthy is the CEO of Swapbox, the easiest way to send and receive packages.

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E-Commerce Is Changing, And So Are The Business Opportunities It Creates

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Even conservative estimates put e-commerce growth at 16 percent growth every year in the U.S., or doubling every five years. While Amazon, and the countless brick-and-mortars with an online presence still hold a lot of the market share, there are still quite a few business opportunities out there to break into the market.

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Slowdown in UK internet sales may signal online shopping peak

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As sales growth falls back to single figures, retail experts think shoppers may be holding back for Black Friday in November

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E-commerce (also written as e-Commerce,eCommerce or similar variants), short for electronic commerce, is trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet.