Toby
Bus 270
Predicting the future trends of e-commerce can be quite difficult given the fast pace that it is moving. However, it is safe to say that e-commerce services will continue to grow as more and more people become accustomed to using the internet for more than just information and news. Additionally, people will see the benefits of using the internet as their tool of business. As e-commerce moves forward the costs will fall, and transactions will become much more efficient when doing business. With the continued growth of the internet, consumer to business and business-to-business transactions will see a significant boom. Even though many people see doing business over the internet as a risk because of fraud, it has become much safer in recent years.
The
biggest trend in e-commerce will be the boom in the consumer to business
environment. As of 2002, there were
605.6 million internet users in the world (askjeeves.com, 2005). There were 182.67 million in
Many companies are attracting people to the internet to do business because of the ease and simplicity of the transaction process. However, one company is leading the way in the e-commerce growth. That company is eBay. As of August 2003, they were the eighth fastest growing company according to Fortune magazine (Fortune.com, 2005). In the second quarter of 2003 alone, the company reported net transactions at $99.4 million (EBay.com, 2005). This easily makes them the leader in the consumer to business environment and the most attractive. EBay is successful and continues to grow because of its ease of use and wide range of products that are available. Users simply type in what they are looking for, and if a product or similar products show up, then categorized depending on the item they are looking at. Payment security is a big issue for EBay and its users. EBay utilizes Centralized Person to Person Electronic Payment Account for security, otherwise known as PayPal to its users (EBay.com, 2005). The relative ease of use, amount of products, and sheer size of active users (56.1 million), will allow this business giant to lead the way into the e-commerce future.
Another trend in the future of e-commerce will be the expansion of business-to-business transactions. Business-to-business is the biggest field of opportunity in e-commerce. Spending by B2B is projected to reach $1.5 trillion this year (Targowski & Rienzo, 2004). By 2003, worldwide e-commerce surpassed $1 trillion. On the other hand, the main draw of business-to-business e-commerce is cost savings through automated processing. This automated processing can significantly reduce or eliminate paper-based activities. Efficiency can also be increased with this process and many errors can be avoided. In turn, this will save a company a substantial amount of money.
The bottom line in the future of e-commerce is cost savings. Cost savings will allow not only businesses but also consumers to do more with their money. This will attract many more businesses and consumers to the internet to do their business. With this expansion, products, thoughts, and ideas can come about to help transactions become very efficient. As the transactions become more and more efficient, customers will realize how simple it is to purchase over the internet and this will continue the expansion of e-commerce. Whether it is B2C or B2B, saving money and creating efficiency are the key factors in the expansion of e-commerce. This need will drive e-commerce well into the future.