The days of making a trip to the market only to purchase one thing are long gone. With the ease of internet shopping, you may now have your desired item in as little as a few minutes. Because of its ease and simplicity, e-commerce has become extremely popular.
That being said, while e-commerce is pretty straightforward as it merely involves purchasing and selling products online. However, e-business, on the other hand, differs from traditional business in that it offers more than just economic transactions. As time goes on, understanding the difference between these two new business models is becoming more and more important.
Basically, in e-commerce, interactions between a company and its consumers, clients, or suppliers are the focus. On the other hand, e-business refers to the use of information and communication technology to conduct commercial activities such as manufacturing, trading, and commerce. So, what is the difference between e-commerce and e-business? Keep reading this article to find out!
Table of Contents
E-Commerce: The Definition
The term e-commerce is essentially an acronym for electronic commerce. Whenever a product is bought, sold, ordered, or paid for online, the entire process is referred to as e-commerce. During this type of business transaction, the vendor and the buyer may communicate without having a face-to-face encounter.
Online banking, online buying, online ticket reservation, social networking, and other forms of e-commerce are examples of real-world applications of e-commerce.
In fact, there have been many e-commerce websites that have developed in recent years that are displacing conventional commercial businesses, such as Flipkart, Amazon, and eBay, among others. Moreover, global online retail sales were 4.9 trillion US dollars. It is expected to rise by more than 50% during the next four years.
E-commerce may be classified into the following categories:
- B2B – The process through which companies acquire and sell products and services is referred to as business to business.
- B2C – The procedure through which a firm sells its products to a client. For eg: Intel, Dell, and others.
- C2C — Customer-to-customer transaction.
For eg: OLX, Quikr, and others. - C2B — Customer-to-business transaction.
E-Business: The Definition
Electronic business, sometimes referred to as e-business, is the presence of a company on the internet. It may also be described as a business that is conducted via the use of the internet or digital data exchange.
In addition to purchasing and selling goods, e-business involves other activities that are integral to the operation of a business, such as providing services to customers and communicating with employees. Customers or business associates can contact the company if they want to speak with someone from the company or if they have a problem with the services. E-business is not limited to purchasing and selling goods only. The use of electronic media is required for all of the company’s essential business processes. There are two sorts of e-business, and they are as follows:
- Pure-Play: A company that exists only on the internet and has no physical location.For eg: Hotels.com
- Brick and Click: A business plan in which a company operates both online (in electronic form) and offline (in physical form) is known as the brick-and-click business model.
The Different Between E-Commerce and E-Business
Now that you’re acquainted with their fundamental definitions and classifications, let’s look at the distinction between E-Commerce and E-Business. Consider the following table, which illustrates the fundamental distinctions between e-Commerce and e-Business:
| Comparative Framework | E-Commerce | E-Business |
| Definition | Trading merchandise over the internet is known as E-commerce. | Running a business using the internet is known as E-business. |
| What it is? | Subset | Superset |
| Is it restricted to financial transactions? | Yes | No |
| What functions do they perform? | It engages in commercial activity. | It conducts business transactions. |
| Approach | It is extroverted in nature. | It takes an ambivalent stance. |
| Significant Operational Component | It needs a website or app in order to function. | It needs a website, CRM, and ERP to function properly. |
| Which network is utilized? | The Internet is mostly utilized for e-commerce purposes. | Here, intranet, extranet, and the internet are all utilized. |
In addition to the pointers mentioned in the table above, here are some more distinctions between e-commerce and e-business, which we’ve explained in detail:
Different Types of Activities
While e-commerce is primarily concerned with the exchange of products and services via online platforms, e-commercial encompasses any business activity conducted via online platforms. While both of these terms refer to the use of digital platforms, the primary distinction between e-commerce and e-business would be that the former is primarily concerned with commercial transactions, whereas the latter encompasses any business activity that incorporates the use of online platforms, thereby facilitating a business’s complete online presence.
Approach
While e-commerce uses an extroverted strategy by involving suppliers, distributors, retailers, and consumers, an online company takes an ambivert approach by incorporating both externally and internally procedures for doing business using online platforms.
Framework
The framework of an e-commerce business is more complex than that of an e-business since the former needs an integrated website to offer its products and services. On the other hand, an online firm need not just an online presence, but also customer engagement, enterprise systems, sales, and marketing departments.
Utilization of the Internet
Another significant distinction between e-commerce and e-business would be that an e-commerce website utilizes solely the internet for transactions, while online companies use the internet, intranet, and extranet to forge better relationships with their customers.
Business Models
Even though both e-commerce & e-business use a digital and online approach, they also vary in their business models when we look at their specifics. To launch an e-commerce website, a new or extra business model will be required to conduct online sales and marketing. Whereas an e-company may possibly transform an offline, conventionally conducted firm into an online one without necessarily developing a new business plan.
Conclusion
In conclusion, e-commerce is the most important component of e-business. It may also be claimed that e-commerce websites are the same as e-business ones, but that e-business websites are not the same as e-commerce ones. The former is simply the internet extension of traditional trade, and the same can be said for the latter as well.
At the moment, the majority of businesses are engaged in e-commerce in order to acquire the greatest possible share of the market. So, if you want to make the most of this trend as well, our experts at Navigate are happy to help. We develop e-commerce solutions that transform shoppers into lifelong customers. Using best practices and techniques, we will build solutions tailored to match your business goals and end-users.
