E- Commerce refers to purchasing and selling goods and services via online platforms, for a small business enterprise using websites such as SquareSpace and WordPress is among the readily available and mobile friendly templates that will be helpful in getting a store up and running of the business. As the owner of the shop, one will need a method of credit card payments collection from consumers online this can be done using PayPal  and Google wallets which are among the popular platforms of managing online payments, however if the shop is selling goods of physical nature you will definitely need a shipping merchants to offer the postage services.(Subramani et al, 2001). The growth of the shop over time will call about for more advanced ways of payments processing which will offer discounts in the transactions costs. The paper will comprise of a comprehensive cover of e-commerce outlining its advantages and disadvantages, key issues companies face when they decide to go e-commerce, discussion about online crimes and other related topics(Rauch and J .E 2001).

Advantages and Disadvantages of E-commerce by performing a SWOT

SWOT analysis objective is to build on the strengths and reduce the weaknesses, as the shop owner I would really want to take advantage of the chances that will come along  and mitigate the threats that are coming from outside. The customers are the perfect source on where there should be an improvement.(Laudon et al, 2007)

Advantages

Increased customer base since people from all over the world who have access to internet can be able to access their product and also come back at any convenient time that suits them, theshop does not have to worry about getting the best facility in a given geographical location.(Subramani et al, 2001). The technologies that the shop owner has to embrace to keep the clients and customers are essential, like say a more client and customer friendly experience during online shopping are among the opportunities that the business should invest in .(Delone et al,2004).

Rising sales since they shop is not managing a store thence more sales online with increased profit margins due to accessibility of the products to the international market (Laudon et al, 2007). The money can be redistributed to make shopping experience efficient for the shops customers. For e-commerce merchants variety of products for selection, fast and cheap shipping will play as a strength to the business.

Expanding the business territorial reach is another great tool on the internet ,with effective marketing every consumer of the shops  product ca find the products or information without necessarily leaving home .E commerce vendor does not necessarily benefit from structural facility leading to lower costs of operation hence a strength to the business.(Subramani et al, 2001).

Instant transaction in e commerce is an advantage since no one has to wait till a check clears or wait for days for other types of payments, transactions are cleared immediately. This is among the opportunities that will come along with conducting an online business (Rauch and J .E 2001)

Disadvantages

Insecurity issues that come about with the business being online, there are people who will break firewalls to extract information from the shopswebsite. Hacking is among the threats that the small business will have to mitigate when dealing with e commerce(Laudon et al,2007)

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Credit card issues caused by disputes when billing ,several credit card businesses usually take the consumer side when disputes concerning billing occurs since they would want to maintain their clients.(Subramani et al, 2001) .This leads to severeloss to the e-commerce business especially when the goods had been already delivered and refunds are to be made to the customers

Extra infrastructural expenses for the establishment of e-commerce, money is invested for smooth running of the business(Rauch and J .E 2001). As the owner, one needs to supervise that the transaction are handled properly and the products represented in the most sincere way.

Insufficient internet service in some geographical location, there are areas which still cannot handle the telecommunication bandwidth hence causing issues making the e commerce business unable to run effectively(D Harrison McKnight 2001).

Issues Company faces when conducting international commerce

Trust issues

Trust is significantly important to all the transaction that deal with marketing and the paucity of research of the online environment phenomena(Laudon et al,2007). Trust not only venture capitalist it is important for customers to have faith in online business transactions and is the role of e-commerce merchants to keep their customers(Rauch and J .E 2001). Creation of a trustworthy e-commerce can involve strategies like interacting with lawyers and economist. Through this it will regain and keep the confidence investors have in e –companies which would lead to a relative increase in companies’ performance.(Delone et al,2004 ).

Culture issues

It is importance to be aware about different cultural issues that exist in international e-commerce. For example a company trading on baby food should not have a picture of the baby on its product cover in Africa because of customary traditions (Rauch and J .E 2001).Web designers to should be careful on the icon choice because different icons can have varied meanings depending with the respective culture. InMuslim communities can be offended by pictures of human that goes against the Islamic parda.(Subramani et al, 2001).Use of specific colors in the designing of web pages can cause trouble, For example white color in China denotes death and mourning while in America it symbolizespurity. Other regions in the world have a cultural behavior that are not welcoming for international e-commerce like in Islamic countries the transfer of data that’s violates Islamic values is forbidden(Davis,et al 2008).

Language Issues

Language plays a vital role in the practicing of e-commerce in other culture, one should make the local language version available in the web pages and a software application that can convert the language to other languages for translational needs.one should be able to select any language using the desired link, however it should show the name of the language for easy reading and understanding of information.(Delone et al,2004 ).

Government issues

Regulations and control by the government has strictly retarded the growth of infrastructure to a limit that it can never fully support data traffic causing the issue of slow data communication mostly in third world countries(Laudon et al,2007)

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Infrastructural issues

Internet infrastructure which contains computers and software which have internet connection provide a means by which data packets can network over a large geographical area. Complex government regulations have brought about slow growth of internet infrastructure(Oxley et al, 2001).

Complying with the law

The complicating factors of web extends and efficiency in the speed of communication can be overcome by complying with the government on how to improve the internet infrastructure and passing of policies that are favorable in the conducting of online business specifically e-commerce, making them to be law so that no one can be unable to access a certain geographical locality(Rauch and J .E 2001). Online sellers especially the international ones usually face different legal considerations like copyright, taxation and security(Davis,et al 2008).

Two online crimes prevalent in e-commerce

Cybercrime is the most popular type of online crime, the losses can be direct or indirect causing loss of productivity causing a consistent costly side effect due to cyber-criminalactivities(Laudon et al,2007). The reality is that each and every business that is connected to the internet has the chances of falling to be the victim(Oxley et al, 2001).

E-commerce fraud is another type of online crime and it usually costs retailers billon of dollars per year, criminals with hopes of defrauding people out if their credit card sand money use the system for their own financial gain. The law enforcement agencies are ahaving a hard time fighting the above two online crimes.(Delone et al,2004 ).

Conclusion

For an effective e-commerce one has to keenly look overcoming the weaknesses of shopping online, different web designs for different shoppers, customer relation and complying with the Law enforcement agencies (Davis,et al 2008).