Table of ContentsIntroductionPersonal Opinion on E-Commerce and E-BusinessRoles of E-Commerce and E-Commerce in Today's Business WorldCollapse business costsGreater marketing efficiencyCentralized informationMore inventory controlIncreased revenueCase study: AlibabaConclusionReferencesIntroductionE-commerce is a subset of e-commerce and is essentially a platform for businesses to communicate and offer their products and direct-to-consumer services through online transactions. Through an online platform, people can buy, sell, order and pay through different payment methods without the need for face-to-face interaction. Transactions can be Business to Business (B2B), Business to Customer (B2C) and Customer to Customer (C2C). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay In comparison, e-commerce refers to all business-related activities that are conducted through or with the help of the Internet. E-commerce includes not only the purchase or sale of goods, but also all communications within the company as well as with customers, provision of services to customers, financial transactions, online technical assistance and electronic transfer of information. E-commerce uses websites, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems as well as customer relationship management systems to bring together different departments of the company and ensure uninterrupted communication that can be used to optimize all processes such as manufacturing, operations and marketing. E-commerce can be Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C). The main element of e-commerce is e-commerce, which provides the opportunity to carry out transactions online. Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba are some examples of currently thriving e-commerce businesses. Using Alibaba as a case study, this report highlights the importance of e-commerce and e-commerce in today's business world. Personal Opinion on E-Commerce and E-Commerce There is an exponential increase in the number of people who prefer to shop online in recent years and this number is increasing with each passing week. We spend most of our time browsing the Internet for study, business, work, learning, marketing or entertainment and it is very difficult to imagine what we would do if there was no Internet. Businesses are aware of this fact and this is the reason why most of them are turning to the online model, unlike traditional physical stores, to attract more customers. There are many reasons why I strongly believe that e-commerce has played an effective role in improving. our daily lives and this will continue. First, e-commerce offers a wide range of possibilities. For people living in small towns or villages, choice is limited due to the limited number of stores and the limited number of products and services available, most of which are produced locally (Chaffey, 2015). The conventional model is also limited by merchants' ability to store goods and so they must continually produce fresh produce to meet demand. E-commerce, on the other hand, isfree from such limitations and therefore pushes the boundaries of traditional commerce. With e-commerce, you can browse multiple websites simultaneously and compare products in real time, making the shopping experience faster and more convenient than visiting different stores (Awais & Samin, 2012). Deciding which product to buy is also easier as you can add the product to the cart and make payment as per your convenience. The average total time to make a purchase is less than 30 minutes in e-commerce, where it traditionally took a whole day. This is the main reason why I believe e-commerce trumps traditional commerce, by providing faster access to a variety of products. E-commerce also results in lower prices for customers compared to traditional business methods. Selling goods and services online is cheaper for businesses due to lower overhead costs. In offline commerce, costs including store rent, recurring expenses, security costs, management costs, transportation costs, inventory costs and salaries among others make it difficult for companies to sell goods at discounted prices (Sila, 2013). This is the reason why I believe e-commerce is becoming popular because it effectively minimizes fixed and variable costs, making it possible to offer and obtain goods and services at low prices. Additionally, I observe that e-commerce provides instant notifications to customers regarding best deals and offers. Traditionally, customers did not know what the latest products were available at their local businesses until they visited the location and often, by the time they became aware, the products were obsolete or out of stock. Additionally, local retailers were unaware of the products available on the international market. Although there was a difference in the consumption habits, profile, mindset and purchasing patterns of individuals belonging to metropolitan areas and small towns (Solaymani, Sohaili and Yazdinejad, 2012), dissemination of information has generally been slow. However, due to the rapid growth of e-commerce and communication technologies, everyone, including people in remote areas, instantly receives notifications as well as messages from sellers regarding the latest discount offers. In today's digital age, consumers are able to find the most suitable offers in seconds through automated notifications on their mobile phones. As a result, e-commerce has been successful in connecting consumers to businesses, eliminating disparities and bridging the gap that existed between people in villages and those in metros (Chen & Holsapple, 2013). In doing so, e-commerce has leveled the playing field for all businesses, opening markets to all businesses around the world. This is why I believe e-commerce is and will continue to be a game changer. Roles of e-commerce and e-commerce in today's business world. E-commerce is a term that encompasses online selling, online learning, e-commerce. -commerce, e-banking, as well as online communication. It plays a major role in how organizations conduct business, thereby shaping the global economy. The roles that e-commerce plays in today's business are as follows. Reduce business costs The main advantage that businesses have withE-commerce is cost reduction. Digitalization virtually eliminates the need for a physical presence in the form of a physical store or workplace. Unless they want to, businesses are not required to rent space to work or pay utilities. Additionally, marketing costs for an e-commerce business are lower than conventional marketing (Gupta, 2014). Thus, e-commerce provides an opportunity for startups and other small businesses to reach a larger market and compete with already established large organizations without incurring huge costs. Technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning have helped these businesses reduce operational costs, thereby increasing productivity. Greater marketing effectiveness. Around 93% of online shoppers use a search engine like Google to search for products. Through search engine optimization (SEO), organizations are able to reach a wider customer base and increase customer engagement by putting e-commerce best practices into practice (Ray, 2012). Email marketing and retargeting are examples of modern technologies that make customer acquisition easier, providing businesses with the opportunity to target their ideal buyers by reducing advertising costs. Through e-commerce, businesses can spend their marketing budget wisely rather than purchasing banners that may be blocked or ignored by customers. Centralized Information The latest e-commerce capabilities allow associations to store huge amounts of information. information on the cloud by protecting it. as well as easily available. For example, cloud facilitation provides a way to store customer data, financial records, audio and video recordings, contracts, and different types of information, eliminating the need for a physical office because all information are always accessible with a simple mouse click, from anywhere. the world.More inventory controlThanks to e-commerce and the latest IT advances, organizations can mechanize logistics processes, process orders, update inventory and issue notifications. E-commerce allows companies to provide more transparency to managers as well as greater control (Namvar and Khalilzadeh, 2013). Automated inventory management tools help businesses save time and reduce human errors, resulting in reduced operational expenses and improved skills as they can focus on their core processes without worrying of insignificant things. Increased RevenueThe latest e-commerce tools and systems are designed to increase revenue for businesses. a business. Such processes and methodologies reduce expenses and improve efficiency within an organization (Wynn, Turner, & Lau, 2013). CRM, ERP, data-driven advertising and other automated functions contribute to the growth of an organization because greater efficiency means more productivity and more revenue because more work is accomplished in less of time (Zhu et al., 2015). Additionally, the office can effectively share important information instantly, which helps them achieve the best results by bringing stakeholders closer together in the process. Case Study: AlibabaThe Alibaba Group is an example of a company that operates in an e-commerce framework and has branches everywhere. the world. The essential objective of the association is., 52(6), 679-691.