Title: International Barriers to EC
Abstract
In the era of digital and wireless technology, e-commerce (EC) is the key concept over the internet that allows customers to have access to any product, service or digital information available in any geographical location within few clicks. Although there are many advantages of adapting to EC in day to day life there are few international barriers that are worth researching.
This article lists three international barriers, their impact and roles in the success of EC.
International Barriers to EC
Electronic Commerce (EC) is a new way of conducting business or electronic transactions over the internet. A broader definition of EC is electronic business which, in addition to buying, selling, or exchanging mediated products or services, includes non-financial transactions such as servicing customers, collaborative relationships among business partners, and electronic transactions within or outside an organization (Turban, King, Lee, Liang & Turban, 2012).
Role of EC modern business and social environments
EC plays a major role in modern businesses by reducing the distance between the business and customers. The online shopping, electronic fund transactions or any bill payments are all made seamless in today’s business with the use of internet. Also the availability of products and services is extended to 24 hours, seven days a week allowing customers to shop and transact without much limitations. More popular type of e-commerce in the recent years is e-Learning. It is adopted by many Universities to inspire education to those students who can take classes or training at their convenience. Many organizations also use e-commerce in the form of e-training and keeping up-to-date with the most recent technological knowledge amongst their employees. Like in modern businesses, customers in the social environments have accessibility to people, culture, weather and such information across the globe. Tools such as twitter, Facebook have enabled customers to collaborate and interact in an accentuated fashion. Having information of any city, culture, language and food habits at the finger tips empowers customers at social level. The availability and richness of the necessary e-commerce applications or business allows customers save their valuable time for their friends and family. Quickly gaining popularity is telephonic services over the internet (VOIP) that adds to the capabilities where families and friends across the globe can connect easier, better, cheaper and in seconds.
Three international barriers to EC and their roles in the success of EC
Some of the barriers to EC are lack of trust, language and culture.
Lack of trust: As e-commerce exists mostly on the virtual network where businesses and customers barely get to know each other, trust for the business and their products can be of a real concern. To establish trusting relationships between businesses and their customers similar to the physical world is the key aspect for online businesses. However, it is difficult to build trust because a kind of anonymity exists for companies trying to establish web presence.
Language: Language is a very important piece to almost all online businesses. The first step to limit barriers to languages is establishing websites in the local language of the city or the country where the website has intended customers. Only way to do