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This is a response to post on Online Business -E-commerce Advantage (by Kamila Bikbulatova)

(source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com) E-commerce continue to increase its popularity due to the advantages

Kamila’s blog post discussed about the effect of e-commerce on both customers and businesses. Now, there are many forms of e-commerce, from  online banking, retailing and utility services. Thanks to the prevalence in social media and technological development, businesses are introduced to a new channel of distribution and sustainable source of revenue, and the consumers are presented with wider choice and convenient surfing and processing experience. Win-win situation?

I personally believe NO. Despite the increasing popularity the new way of business, in my opinion there are many pitfalls and unwanted cost associated with e-commerce.

Firstly, the blog post mentioned extensively about e-commerce building stronger and better relationships with the public. While this could be true, e-commerce has high risk of fraudulent trade. As a buyer, it is very difficult to authenticate if items sold on eBay. I am also reluctant to make orders online because I fear for online fraud and security of my private information.

Secondly, while the blog post emphasises how e-commerce can save our time, I personally find browsing online is quite time consuming and onerous. For instance, while most people enjoy browsing for information about a particular car they car interested in, they will still want to visit to test-drives and showroom prior to investments (especially when it is expensive). Also, the lag time between your purchase and shipment can take a very long time. Likewise, I believed that e-commerce isn’t suited for all type of businesses.

E-commerce also enable businesses to employ unethical marketing opportunities – the attack of spam mails.

In essence, e-commerce is not the answer but merely an option for businesses to expand and succeed in their operation. With millions of users surfing online, the beauty and the evil of e-commerce has yet to be fully understood.