THE INFLUENCE OF E-COMMERCE ON PEOPLE’S LIFE 1

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THE INFLUENCE OF E-COMMERCE ON PEOPLE’S LIFE

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Introduction and research questions

Over the year, people had conformed to a certain way of living and going things that

were not influenced by social media. People used a stick to their norms and living that was not

polluted by any other clan. However, due to industrialization and digitalization, the world has

become a small community where one can comfortably transverse through at will and wish.

Social media has necessitated for an international business transaction. E-commerce is the

newest social media sponsored channel that has aided for faster business transactions. By

definition is e-commerce is the electronic mode of business transaction (buying and selling of

goods) over through the social media platform. The main aspects involved are business to

business (B2B) and business to consumers (B2C) (Nandi and Nandi, 2019). This method has not

only ensured overall profit maximization, it has also ensured that the economic status of both

people and the country has been boosted. Although the initiative has yielded to overall growth,

there is a need to evaluate the effect the method has had on the people both economically and

socially.

Research questions

I. How effective are e-commerce shopping apps?

II. To what extent has e-commerce been adopted by people?

III. What gains/losses do people get from e-commerce?

Through the above questions, the research seeks to understand the positive and

negative influence these business methods has had on people (more specifically business

people)
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Hypothesis

E-commerce has led to the detachment of people from society

E-commerce has led to the improved social status of people

E-commerce has contributed to negatively to the overall interaction of people

Literature review

E-commerce has, for the past years, played a pivotal role in ensuring that most business

transaction has been completed. With the increased number of E-commerce business

transactions, there is a need to identify whether it is convenient in business transactions.

Niranjanamurthy, Kavyashree Jagannath and Chahar argued that one of the most important

elements that need to be installed to ensure that E-commerce is becoming the next massive

wave in the business world is the means to access e-commerce platforms (2013). These three

authors further stated that when e-commerce first emerged, one would only access these cite

via a laptop or by literally walking to a cyber. Sembiring and Ananda (2019) supported this

observation and further added that this was the reason the business model did not gain

popularity as rapidly as Facebook and Twitter. Most people were at first discouraged from

investing in this form of business due to the fear that they would lose their investment money.

However, over the years, engineers have been able to design apps that have, to a great extent,

reduced the congestion. Many business people have now accepted and acknowledge this mode

of a business transaction. However, Ahuja and Khazanchi (2016) wrote an article questioning

the convenience of the apps that have been developed and whether they are business

opportunities or methods of resolving the accessibility problem of the e-commerce platform.

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According to the author, most of these phone apps that allow for e-commerce accessibility also

charge a lot for site accessibility raising the question of are the consumers of the app gaining or

is it just a ply to get money from business people.

On the other hand, the introduction of this business method has raised the question of

the loss of personal touch between people. According to Fricker and Schonlau (2002), one of

the advantages of the traditional trade method was that it provided opportunities for people

from different cultures and walks of life to interact. The interaction was vital since the

consumers would evaluate the product they were purchasing. Similarly, the sellers would

survey for the best products since they knew that the goods would be assessed for quality. This

ensured that trust was built among the transacting parties, which guaranteed continuous

mutual business relationships. In most cases, they would even go to the extent of getting soul

mates through this business interaction. However, today, e-commerce is conducted over the

Internet with people not having any form of contact. According to Jackson (1989), the lack of

contact from this business people has facilitated the loss of humanity. It is easy for a person to

con another person of all his money online since there is not contact that allows for remorse

creation. This has led to moral degradation among humans. However, authors Gaertner and

Smith, 2001; Gregory, Karavdic and Zou, 2007, has also praised this form of the business, stating

that through this process, people can save times the money. According to these authors,

contrary to the traditional days where trade would take the whole people in the current day's,

people can transact and do other businesses that can contribute to the overall growth of the

economy.
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Thirdly, E-commerce has bought business transactions to the doorstep of the consumer.

One of the reasons why the mode has gained a lot of attraction is its ability to reduce extra-

burden of consumers to move to trade-stores to get their products. Based on an article by

Ajeet, consumer saves a lot of money and time through e-commerce since the delivery is done

at their place of residence (2019). However, Park and Kang (2005) argue that home delivery of

products contributes to laziness for some people. Mehta and Shah (2001) contributed to the

motion and added that through this business method, business people could fully concentrate

on expanding their customers’ bases rather than on establishing a location of operation. Over

the years, business has been concerned about where customers can reach them from such that

they have lost track of the core reason for existence, which is to creates satisfying customer

products. In addition to the location cost reduction, the initiative has also aided to the

elimination of maintenance and another utility cost that are associated with physical stores. E-

commerce is an online store that says open 24/7, and one does not have to pay people to keep

an eye on things. Although there should be storage, one cannot compare the retail cost to

storage cost. On the issue of delivery, Kim and Srivastava (2007) proposed that although the

customers are benefiting from the doorstep delivery, their business person is incurring the

extra expense of shipping the goods to the customer's place.

Marketing in e-commerce also affects the way people respond to various societal

aspect. According to Yazdanifard and Samuel (2012), through e-commerce, both consumers and

marketing practitioners benefit from their interaction. To ensure that marketers are in-line with

the customer’s wishes, marketers have to frequently adjust their marketing strategies to ensure

that they stay relevant to customers. As marketers, there is a need to remain relevant in the
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eyes of customers. This has aided for the development of better strategies that target to make

the lives of consumers easier. However, there are critiques that most of the strategies do not

yield as many efforts as expected. Miyatake, Nemoto, Nakaharai, and Hayashi (2016) stated

that consumers had been given the power to control the market rather than flow with the

market trend. E-commerce allows consumers to view different products and discuss their

effects on people. With different experience, customers can compare their experiences on a

specific trade platform. If the platform is rolled as bad, then customers refrain from purchasing

products from that particular seller. Although this method has helped many to discern better

companies from fake ones, it has also aided in the closure of potential companies due to image

tarnishing. This occurs when the rival company assumes disguises themselves as customer

influence the others that the product offered is of poor quality. In light of this, our research

looks at how these apps that are used to certify the quality of products that are produced and

how this quality product leads to the interference of the people’s lives.

Through e-commerce, most hackers have been able to steal from other people. One of

the requirements of this mode of business transaction is that all the transaction is done online.

Ordering of goods, negotiation, payment, and confirmation of order arrival are all done via

online apps. Rao (2001) argues that this method provided hackers with the necessary detailers

to hack people bank accounts are conned them of vast amounts of money. Furthermore, most

con people may start their business online since they do not need to be screened, nor are they

restricted by any policies. This means that they can start business and cone people without any

consequences befalling on them (Reinsch, 2005).

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Lastly, e-commerce has deprived people of social interaction, which has led to

communal conflict. With the digitalization of everything, people perform all their tasks in the

comfort of their homes. Combined with the secluded way of living among many people, dispute

that may may blow out of proportion since there is little contact (Siddiqui and Singh, 2016). In

the earlier days, communities used to know each other and hold social gatherings to discuss the

progress of the community and the necessary changes that need to be to ensure development.

Today people only think of their own homes and little of the society; hence, if one makes a non-

intentional error, the community would judge the person harshly (Skoric, Zhu, Goh and Pang,

2016). This contributes to the research is such that it shows how e-commerce and other social

media aspect has permitted people to detach themselves from the world at large.
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References

Niranjanamurthy, M., Kavyashree, N., Jagannath, S., and Chahar, D., 2013. Analysis of e-

commerce and m-commerce: advantages, limitations and security issues. International

Journal of Advanced Research in Computer and Communication Engineering, 2(6), 2360-

2370.

Ajeet, K., 2019. Advantages and Disadvantages of E-Commerce. Look Beyond the Hype: Analyze

the Pros and Cons for Your Business. Retrieved from:

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/ecommerce-pros-and-cons-1141609

Park, E. J., and Kang, E. M., 2005. Effects of shopping mall attributes and shopping values on

online purchase intentions. Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and

Textiles, 29(11), 1475-1484.

Mehta, K. T., and Shah, V., 2001. E-commerce: the next global frontier for small

businesses. Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 17(1).

Fricker, R. D., and Schonlau, M., 2002. Advantages and disadvantages of Internet research

surveys: Evidence from the literature. Field methods, 14(4), 347-367.

Jackson, J. H., 1989. The world trading system. Law and policy of international economic

relations, 2, 31-78.

Gaertner, N., and Smith, M., 2001. E-commerce in a Web-based environment: auditing relative

advantages in the Australian health sector. Managerial Auditing Journal, 16(6), 347-365.

Gregory, G., Karavdic, M., and Zou, S., 2007. The effects of e-commerce drivers on export

marketing strategy. Journal of International Marketing, 15(2), 30-57.

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Kim, Y., and Srivastava, J., 2007. Impact of social influence in e-commerce decision making.

In Proceedings of the ninth international conference on Electronic commerce (pp. 293-

302). ACM.

Yazdanifard, R., and Samuel, O., 2012. The Influence of E-Commerce on Marketing Practitioners

and Consumers. Computer Technology and Application, 3(3).

Miyatake, K., Nemoto, T., Nakaharai, S., and Hayashi, K., 2016. Reduction in consumers’

purchasing cost by online shopping. Transportation Research Procedia, 12, 656-666.

Rao, T. R., 2001. E-commerce and digital divide: impact on consumers. In Regional Meeting for

the Asia-Pacific: New Dimensions of Consumer Protection in the Era of Globalisation,

Goa, India.

Reinsch, R., 2005. E-commerce: managing the legal risks. Managerial Law, 47(1/2), 168-196

Siddiqui, S., and Singh, T., 2016. Social media its impact with positive and negative

aspects. International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research, 5(2),

71-75.

Skoric, M. M., Zhu, Q., Goh, D., and Pang, N., 2016. Social media and citizen engagement: A

meta-analytic review. New Media and Society, 18(9), 1817-1839.

Ahuja, V., and Khazanchi, D., 2016. Creation of a conceptual model for adoption of mobile apps

for shopping from e-commerce sites–an Indian context. Procedia Computer Science, 91,

609-616.

Nandi, S., and Nandi, M. L., 2019. Introducing an M-Commerce Course into the Business

Management Curriculum: Experiences and Recommendations. Journal of Information

Systems Education, 26(3), 5.
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Sembiring, B. K. F., and Ananda, S., 2019, March. THE EFFECT OF VIRAL MARKETING AND

CUSTOMER TRUST ON ONLINE SHOP PURCHASE DECISIONS BASED ON APPLICATION IN

FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA. In Multi-

Disciplinary International Conference University of Asahan (No. 1).