P5- eXAMINE THE SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF E-COMMERCE UNIT 8 – E-COMMERCE P5- eXAMINE THE SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF E-COMMERCE Definition of e-commerce: “a business that uses the Internet to sell its products”   Anne Sewell – BTEC Level 3

TYPES OF E-COMMERCE E-tailers eg Amazon.co.uk and ebuyer.co.uk. A retailer that is a click only business. They only sell goods and services ONLINE. Manufacturers eg dell.com. These are e-commerce sites that sell the products they have manufactured themselves. Existing retailers eg tesco.co.uk or argos.co.uk. These are businesses that already existed before they set up an e-commerce site. Consumer led eg eBay. These companies allow consumers to sell products using their site. Service providers eg easyjet.co.uk and lastminute.com. These companies normally sell service rather than products on their e-commerce sites. Financial eg esure.com. These are e-commerce sites that only deal with banking and financial needs. Discuss: What each type of business is ………. How they make money ………… How each type of business works …………

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS Providing added value: e-commerce sites can often provide added value by offering online discounts, free delivery and other incentives to make using e-commerce more favourable. Ease and security. E-commerce sites make it increasingly easy to buy products and services online, often with only a few clicks. Faster payment systems like PayPal and saving favourite products help to make e-commerce fast and simple. Added security helps to keep sites secure and improve consumer trust. Providing service. As well as selling products and services, e-commerce sites also provide services to help with their purchase. These include delivery customer support, FAQ and payment options. These all have an impact on numbers of staff needed and costs. Economic and social impact due to speed of changes. The way we shop has changed dramatically in recent years and is probably only going to continue changing. This means that both socially and economically things are going to continue to change. Implications of brick and click businesses. There are many implications to consider with a brick and click business as there is a need for consistency between the traditional shop and the e- commerce site for example with payment, prices, product and company ethos. Discuss: What the implication is….. How it effects the consumer…..

BENEFITS TO CUSTOMERS: Access to goods and services for the house bound. This has allowed for people that could not normally go out shopping for many different reasons to be able to purchase services and goods online. Anytime access. As e-commerce sites can be used at all times of the day or night, this allows consumers to shop when it is most convenient, even in unsociable hours when shops would normally be shut. Internet discounts. These can be added to goods to make it more favourable to buy on line. Also as they often don’t have as many overhead costs to cover with an e-commerce site, they can sometimes charge less for products. Discuss: What the benefits are…… What effect they can have on consumers……

DRAWBACKS TO CUSTOMERS: Payment security. This can concern consumers, especially on websites they are not familiar with. Consumers should be checking sites are secure and payment methods are appropriate. Reliance on delivery services. Getting a reliable delivery service can be tricky. E-commerce sites that offer order tracking or an exact delivery time are helpful to allow consumers to plan waiting for deliveries around their day. Impact on employment. Click businesses often need less staff to run them than brick businesses do. Meaning there could be less chance for employment, also people that are employed to work for click businesses will require specialist skills. Social divide. E-commerce may also be seen to create a social divide between the people that will use e-commerce sites on a regular basis and those who continue to shop traditionally. Discuss: What the drawbacks are….. What effect they can have on consumers…..