It is strange how our lives have started revolving around things that were once oblivious to our knowledge. Internet was nowhere when we used to go to our nearest grocery stores to get ration. It did not matter if a particular shop was kilometres away, but we did take the effort of taking the time out and actually travelling to that place to get our favourite kind of clothing. The effect of E-commerce and M-commerce on our lives in inevitable and irreplaceable pertaining to the fast pace of development of transactions online.
(E-commerce is any online transactions, i.e. buying or selling of goods and services on the internet. Mobile commerce or M-commerce is a similar process but involves mobile phones only leaving out laptops and desktops.)
As a kid, I would wake up every morning listening to the alarm ringing by my bedside. But guess what changed overtime, I am now awakened by the notifications buzzing off every time Flipkart or Myntra deems it fit to let me know about their new offers. The way we buy and sell things nowadays has taken a completely different turn. Local vendors have faced a major setback due to the availability of goods and services. Every brand, starting from Mango to Van Heusen to Forever 21 to Levi’s, all the variants are ne click away. The typical Sunday outing with parents included shopping, having a brunch at a restaurant, hanging out by the Ganges have lost meaning in today’s life where everything is delivered to our doorstep. Even my parents have got the hang of buying things online, as a result of which even they feel lethargic to go out in absence of an utmost requirement.
Besides buying and selling of luxury items, a lot of our bank transactions happens through online portals. In that case, tech-savvy people do not even have to go the banks even if they have to open an account. From bank transfers to payment to restaurants and purchase of online goods everything can be done via apps like Paytm. We even pay our DTH bills, electricity bills and mobile recharge through this app. Little fun chores like getting movie and concert tickets from the theatre itself or going to the bus station to book seats have become obsolete now. A local Wi-fi company also has made online recharge available and mandatory. They sit in their office only if someone does not know how to pay online. Other finance-oriented undertakings like dealing in shares, mutual funds and even LIC can be done online.
Along with buying, even selling (C2C company) has a scope when it comes to online transactions. But in these cases, it becomes very problematic because we do not know who is buying our product, there are arguments regarding the price and mostly, there is no certainty that a buyer will be interested or not. My family had personally taken up this task and random people would call or message us but never followed it up. Therefore, safety becomes an issue here.
From all this, it is evident how e-commerce and m-commerce have enveloped our lives. The availability of internet can open doors to thousands of possibilities and they do not only pertain to entertainment. So many of our jobs have been eased out. In spite of the benefits, I sometimes cannot wrap my head around the fact how things are going to change in the future. If I have a mobile phone in my hand, I can literally operate most of my financial requirements. It gives me chills to think of the advent of high-end technology and the way it will affect our day to day lives, the face of E-commerce and M-commerce and everything else.
Everything has a flip side to it. If E-commerce and M-commerce have helped us, they have also posed a threat from another aspect. It may not be very evident or may not seemingly affect us directly, but it does.
Advantages:
- Being able to control payments without actually having to go up to the office.
- Easy method of shopping as every sort of product is available online.
- Living in a remote place is not a problem, as all the E-commerce companies pledge to deliver wherever it is required to.
- We can very conveniently go cashless, so we don’t have to worry about our purse getting stolen.
- Online portals tend to give more discount since they sell directly from the manufacturers and price remains less due to the absence of the middleman, i.e. the retailer.
Disadvantages:
- There is a chance of leaking information due the company’s access to our contacts, gallery and even cameras.
- The goods, many a times, do not come with a guarantee and thus the customer has to either change it or suffer a loss.
- It hinders us from actually performing the task by going out of houses and thus makes us laid back.
- The local vendors and minor sellers do not get a chance.
- Disrupts personal contact between the individual and the bank.
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