Por: Elmer Osorio

Throughout history, human beings have bought and sold products or services among themselves. From bartering to physical currency, we find ourselves today in virtual transactions, whether through a credit card or digital currency.

E-commerce is now part of the daily operations of medium and large companies. In this context, a micro and small business cannot afford to fall behind and miss the opportunity to market its products or services through the various virtual platforms available.

First Steps:

1. Create your email: There are many platforms where a website can be hosted. Among the recommended ones are those where generating an institutional email would be ideal. If not, start with the basics by giving life to the name of your business.
2. Create your website: A website for your business is now a priority, to the point that companies or institutions are always on the lookout for entrepreneurs or businesses that, when starting, create their own website. If this is not the case, it can be created from those institutions that offer free hosting, with a minimal amount of space to meet the initial needs of the business, whether it's a service or a product.
3. Use social media: Social media has never been more useful than it is today for generating virtual traffic and creating an online store without incurring high costs. It's important to create a Facebook Fan page and do your own marketing by posting images of your product on related pages. At the beginning, using a mobile phone and its camera, you can take very good photos and upload them to different social media platforms to showcase the product.

Once the above considerations about the start of e-commerce and its scope are made, it is essential to note that the benefits of e-commerce go beyond mere sales growth. There are numerous benefits derived from implementing an e-commerce strategy in the organization:

• Reduction and optimization of back-office resources: With an e-commerce system, less time is spent on administrative tasks, document usage is reduced, there is greater accuracy and fewer errors due to less data entry, and financial and accounting control can be automated.
• Greater knowledge of the end customer: Especially in B2C processes, companies that develop an online sales channel gain extensive knowledge of their customers by using web analytics techniques to dissect user behavior more precisely than in traditional sales channels.
• Improvement of logistics processes: Better control of goods movement, quicker confirmation of offers and orders, optimized stock management, reduced times in transmitting information between the supplier and the customer, etc.
• Strategic impact: Improved image and service to customers, the ability to respond more quickly to market needs, and a competitive advantage over organizations that do not have an e-commerce system.
• Financial benefits: Online sales often involve immediate payment for the company, providing a financial advantage compared to traditional offline payment methods, traditionally tied to payment terms of no less than 30 days.
• Organizational aspects: Improved quality, integration, and ease of access to information for decision-making, increased internal discipline in formalizing processes, and the implementation of new methodologies such as workflow automation.

Finally, whether the online channel is a complement to the traditional channel in the strategy or the only way for the company to offer its products and services, the Internet is the ideal medium for product testing, analyzing the acceptance of local goods and services in international markets, conducting market studies, and a myriad of activities that will allow professionals in sales and marketing to make much more appropriate decisions for the reality of the countries to which the company will direct its international strategy.

Types of E-commerce:

1. Business to Business (B2B): Any exchange that takes place between two organizations. This type of e-commerce provides new communication channels, information exchange, information selection, and facilitates the implementation of cooperation strategies, as well as transactional mechanisms for completing the transaction in a 100% online environment.
2. Business to Consumer (B2C): Exchange of information, goods, or services between an organization and its external audiences (customers, potential customers, employees, shareholders, etc.).
3. Business to Administration (B2A): Relationship through telecommunication networks between an organization and Public Administrations. The development of this modality can lead to the mandatory adoption of e-commerce systems (for example, by obliging the provision of services purely online or electronic invoicing).
4. Citizen to Government (C2G): Relationship between citizens and Public Administrations through telecommunication networks for obtaining information, access to services, tax payment, notifications, etc.

What values does the online consumer demand?

• Proximity: Online consumers prefer to make rational and intelligent purchases, but also more responsible ones. Therefore, they lean towards transparent and accessible brands.
• Experience: The consumer faces only the products, so their level of demand will be much higher than in a physical store, requiring a higher level of customer service than in physical channels.
• Accessibility: 24x7 format, they want to buy at any time and from anywhere.
• Mobility: The increasing use of mobile devices requires companies to adapt their online sales channels to new mobile navigation formats.
• Loyalty: Your customers can become your best salespeople, so they demand exclusive and personalized treatment. Reward them with offers, promotions, discounts... be creative. The Internet is a particularly "unfaithful" medium, with the competition just a click away, and price comparison models are generalized for a particular sector (insurance, travel, hotels, etc.).
• Simplicity: Optimize the buying process as much as possible. Do not miss out on sales in complex purchasing processes.
• Ubiquity: They may be consuming other media.
• Social: Consumers shape the new word of mouth through social networks. The influence of recommendations will increase or decrease your sales.

Any activity carried out on social networks has a "plus" of virality that will help both increase your sales and the awareness of your brand. However, in the face of the rise of e-commerce, the main reservations about online purchases come from a feeling of insecurity due to not being able to see, touch, feel the product, and not having someone to contact in case of conflict, in addition to aspects related to the perception of the lack of security in the online environment.