All about E-commerce for beginners. E-commerce - as a niche for business

E-commerce. Electronic commerce systems. E-commerce development

E-commerce is the sale and purchase of goods and services via the Internet. This is a set of technologies and services that provide the opportunity to present your goods and services on the Internet, accept orders, issue invoices, as well as receive payments and transfer money to counterparties via the Internet.

The two main categories of e-commerce are:
- online stores - allow you to place a catalog of your goods and services online, as well as manage their sale
- Internet payment systems - Internet money services that allow mutual settlements via the Internet

There are also various e-commerce support services:
- merchant services - allow you to automate payment acceptance in an online store
- exchangers - allow you to exchange one electronic currency for another, as well as enter/withdraw electronic currency
- billing services - allow you to generate invoices, send them to clients and control payments

2015. Cloud trading platform Skynell added a website builder

Initially, the company’s page on the Skynell online trading platform had the structure of a product catalog. New version service allows you to create a full-fledged company website with your own necessary information, and without spending a lot of time and money. You can add your own pages on which you can place any information about the company, news, useful articles and much more. It is also possible to manage main menu items: they can be added, removed, or swapped. The sidebar is now also customizable according to the user's wishes; here you can change the order in which modules are displayed or completely remove those that you do not need. Special attention was paid to the flexibility of settings on the main page of the site: now the user decides what to display on the main page of his site: product catalog, company news, information about his products and services, etc.

2015. Online trading platform Promarket has updated its interface and released mobile applications

The professional B2B trading platform Promarket has updated its interface. Many have been introduced additional functions, which help participants conduct their activities and 7,000 additional industries in various sectors of the economy. Promarket mobile applications have also recently appeared for Android and iOS, allowing participants to communicate and manage their sales from smartphones and tablets. And the desktop client for Windows makes it more convenient to use the business messenger in the system. The main tasks of Promarket remained unchanged - assistance in finding new business contacts and the latest offers on the market in real time.

2014. Supl.biz - online trading platform for small businesses

A new electronic trading platform for small businesses has appeared on the RuNet - Supl.biz. The creators were not lazy and collected a large (1 million) database of companies with addresses, phone numbers and emails, sorted them by region, industry, product and service. And if you need to purchase something, you can register on Sulp, place your order, describing the required product or service and indicating the region. The order is automatically sent to potential suppliers via email. Suppliers receive an application and present their offer on the online trading platform, or directly to the customer (contacts on the website are open). As a result: some companies find the goods and services they need in just a few minutes at the best price, while other companies receive an additional flow of customers. On average, 5 responses are left per order.

2014. Strip Commerce: Do you want to undress a girl? Buy something from her

An original way to increase sales was invented by the company Marisa, which produces lingerie. IN electronic versions Playboy and VIP magazines they added the ability to undress the models in the pictures by buying the underwear they were wearing. The user needs to click on the accessory he likes, after which an order form appears on the screen. If it is successfully completed, the model parts with the purchased item. They called this technology Strip Commerce. And, it seems, they haven’t patented it yet, so you can use it. For example, you can post on your website girls who hide behind air conditioners, satellite antennas, or what are you selling there? By the way, professional advertisers have already appreciated the Strip Commerce technology - it received bronze in the Mobile category at Cannes Lions 2014.

2013. E-commerce 2013 will talk about false e-commerce trends

The E-Commerce 2013 conference will be held soon in Moscow (namely October 10-11). What usually happens at this event - watch the video. The key topic this year is trends and “false trends” in e-commerce. The organizers say that: yesterday we were fed fairy tales, the names of which no one remembers. Today there are also a lot of new beautiful terms: RTB advertising, retargeting, SMM, omni-channel, affiliate marketing, mobile sales. What is worth investing in, and which trends will die without being born (and take the money invested in them with them)? At the conference, the CEOs of Yulmart, E5, OZON.travel, E96, VseInstrumenty will try to answer these questions.

2009. Digital River starts working with WebMoney

The largest e-commerce service provider Digital River and payment WebMoney system Transfer announced the launch of a joint project. Now E-commerce services owned by DR: Share-It and Regnow will allow you to sell goods for WebMoney, and sellers will be able to withdraw the money they earn to WebMoney wallets. Let us remind you that these services are intended for the sale of digital goods only: software, e-books, web services (or any related services). For their services, services charge a commission of about 5% of the cost of the goods. Until now, they only allowed payments from bank cards and PayPal. At the same time, because cards were checked very strictly; buying something through Shareit or Regnow using a Russian bank card was problematic. Therefore, the services were used mainly to sell goods to Western buyers. Now the number of buyers from the post-Soviet space will also increase.

2009. E-commerce is the best opportunity of the Internet

In many cases, electronic commerce via the World Wide Web makes traditional businesses more accessible to everyone. Plus, not only do businesses benefit from e-commerce, consumers benefit too. Just as the owner of an online store can now sell a product to a buyer on the other side of the world, so the buyer can freely buy the specialized product he needs from a store located hundreds of kilometers away, which he would otherwise have to order at an additional cost or purchase through catalogs. Using the web, users can compare prices from dozens of retailers with just a glance at the screen. The Internet provides enormous benefits to businesses, and e-commerce continues to grow. One day, in a few years or decades, we will see the bulk of business move online.

2009. Moneybookers is selling again

The American company Investcorp is selling online payment provider Moneybookers, which it bought in 2007. British Moneybookers is one of the most popular EPS in Europe and has more than 6 million users. The sale of the company is apparently caused by the crisis in the market and is Investcorp's first loss in the first half of the financial year. The price being discussed for the Moneybookers business is €400 million. It is still unknown who will become the new owner of the payment system

2009. The line of WebMoney applications has been replenished with a new keeper - WebMoney Keeper Mini

WebMoney Transfer company launched new tool for working with wallets - WebMoney Keeper Mini. This is a special site that gives the user access to an account. Keeper Mini does not have the capabilities that the Classic or Light versions have, but it is simple and convenient for novice payment system users. Mini allows you to transfer funds, make purchases, and pay for the services of various providers. All operations are completed in a few clicks. The registration procedure is simpler and faster than its predecessors. Mini allows you to log in using a regular login-password pair or use the E-num system. The new product is adapted for devices with small screens and supports all common operating systems.

2008. About e-commerce in Ukrainian

On October 28, 2008, the second conference “Business of Online Stores and Online Services” will be held in Kyiv. This is the largest specialized event in Ukraine dedicated to e-commerce issues. Let us remind you that the first conference took place on November 8, 2007 and brought together more than 300 participants from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Poland. The other day, the organizer of the event, the OWOX company, announced the opening of registration for the second conference. As last year, the goal of the conference remained unchanged, namely the development of e-commerce in Ukraine, providing online stores and online services with information about opportunities for promotion and increasing sales, communication and exchange of experience among market participants. Among the conference speakers are specialists from well-known Internet companies and leading online stores.

2007. What is Google Product Search?

Google Product Search is a price comparison service that is currently in beta testing. Its interface contains search bar, in which the user can enter the name of a product to view listings of sellers offering that product, as well as pricing information and reviews. Google Product Search differs from other price comparison services in that it doesn't charge anything for listings, doesn't accept payment for showing products at the top of listings, and doesn't take a commission on sales. Any company can submit individual product information through Google Base or suggest products for inclusion. Search results can be sorted by relevance (best) or price (ascending or descending). You can also search for products from select online retailers (provided they have submitted Product Search data).

2002. MTU-Intel rents OSG WebShop for its online store

MTU-Intel was given the opportunity to rent OSG WebShop software, designed for organizing e-commerce systems. All work with the Internet store's product database, orders and clients is carried out from WebShop Manager. The process of preparing, changing information and processing received orders can be carried out in offline mode; Internet connection is required only to update information about products or prices in the Internet store and receive information about new orders. For the convenience of clients, payment for software rental is carried out through the personal account of the MTU-Intel user, which is replenished by activating the company’s Internet cards.

2001. GAR eCommerce Kit - will sell beer online

EGAR Technology created the website Ochakovo.ru for the largest brewery in Russia. The implementation of the Ochakovo.ru website was based on the EGAR eCommerce Kit (EECK) business package, which is a set of modules that can satisfy a wide range of real needs of online trading system. The package includes a system for placing product lines in an electronic store and allows you to implement complex processes for changing the structure of catalogs, analyze the business activity of its visitors and, on this basis, identify factors stimulating the growth of online sales.

2000. Sun will do e-commerce without AOL

iPlanet, a joint venture between AOL and Sun Microsystems, was taken over entirely by the latter as its e-commerce applications division. The company will further enhance the iPlanet family of solutions as a core component of the Sun Open Net Environment software platform. All iPlanet employees are transferred to Sun staff.

1998. Electronic trading system ACCORD-Intermarket announced

Epsylon Technologies and the Atlant-Inform company announced the start of development of the ACCORD-Intermarket system, designed for building e-commerce Web sites. The e-commerce complex will be built on the basis of Bailkonur software from Epsylon Technologies and the ACCORD integrated enterprise management system developed by Atlant-Inform. The latter solves the entire complex of problems warehouse accounting, sales and purchasing management: supply planning, registration of purchase contracts, invoices and received invoices, posting of goods received under these invoices, receipt operational information about stocks in warehouses, about payment of bills and debts to suppliers, mutual settlements, sales planning, reservation and write-off of goods according to issued invoices and invoices, formation of sales prices and discounts from these prices, obtaining information about the shipment of goods, their write-off, payment of bills and settlements (mutual settlements) with customers, as well as income for any period of time, etc.

• Translation

From the translator: this translation is intended for those who are taking their first steps in the field of e-Commerce or are just thinking about creating a business in this area. Here, in fairly large strokes, we outline where to start and what it is advisable to think about at the beginning of this long (and, of course, interesting) journey. We decided to add several links to our articles and translations to the material - you can turn to them to study in more detail a number of issues raised in this topic.

Perhaps you have recently thought about starting an e-commerce business, like many others. And this is not surprising, given the 12% increase in sales in this area in the US in 2013 alone. This means that the total revenue from such sales was about $296 billion. By the way, the e-commerce industry in India has also expanded by 30% compared to last year 2013. Now the share of revenue from e-commerce there is $12.6 billion.

You can read about what features characterize American e-commerce in our post “What Russian e-Commerce can learn from American”

This article will tell you how to start an e-commerce business from scratch, creating a strong base so that your business grows and develops properly. We will not delve into more complex processes such as sales organization and logistics, because they are not the main problems at the start.

Getting started

Of course, the tips given below are quite universal, but if you are interested in regional features of e-commerce, we recommend that you refer to our publication “7 factors for the success of an online store in RuNet”.

Malls have a better chance of success when trading on a large scale, and there is a constant risk of failure unless you have a lot of capital to invest, the resources to do good market research, and the like. Also, in this case, it takes much more time to purchase a large assortment of goods from reliable suppliers.

The best option for you at the very beginning will be to choose a specific specialization, or niche, in other words. This is a small area of ​​the market in which you will strive to establish a leadership position as an expert in the field. Examples here could be: riding equipment, equipment for scooters, original motorcycle helmets, printing on T-shirts or toys for children from 3 to 6 years old. By choosing a niche, you significantly increase the chance of success, and also make it much easier to find suppliers, manage sales and logistics.

You will need to find reliable suppliers to trade quality goods. Look for suppliers in your industry and learn what they offer. If you are purchasing goods from another country, you should study the import rules and the import duty system. If you don't want to maintain too much warehouse space, then a drop-shipping system is also an option, where you essentially purchase goods from a supplier only when a customer places an order with you. Thus, the lack of risk makes this option quite suitable for you in the early stages.

So, once you've decided what you want to sell, the next step is to think about where to sell. There is no need to worry too much about this as e-commerce is a big industry today and there are dozens of selling places where you can list your items even on a limited or no budget! 


Creating a highly professional brand

The first thing you will need to do is to properly present yourself on the Internet, which will require the development of a specialized website for selling goods.
 Creating an e-commerce site is not an easy task, so it's best to hire a web designer - don't try to create the site yourself. Ask him to use website development platforms. They allow you to make small changes yourself without the help of a web designer, and thus avoid future costs.

Your logo and branding are also important factors to consider. They determine what customers will associate your products with. Hire a professional graphic designer and have him/her design a beautiful logo that perfectly represents your business.

Drawing up a unique selling proposition (USP)

Your USP is what sets you apart from your competitors, it is the reason why your customers will buy products from you instead of them. When writing a USP, you need to think about the shortcomings of the industry and how they can be corrected. This could include extending the warranty period, reducing delivery times, improving customer support or developing detailed catalogs products that will help customers purchase exactly what they need.

Many e-commerce firms choose price as their USP and, in most cases, it impacts them negatively. Buyers who are looking for the cheapest product are most likely not the customers you want. There is a possibility that you still do not have enough capital because you want to purchase goods at a low price, which requires bulk purchasing. Moreover, unless your store specializes in selling discounted items, your customers will go elsewhere as soon as someone offers items cheaper.

Track important information and key metrics

The most accessible key metric and the easiest to track is the conversion rate. It shows the number of users who purchased a product from you relative to the number of all visitors to your online store. For example, if 1,000 people visited your site, but only 20 of them made purchases, your conversion rate would be 2%.

Another metric worth considering is the cost of acquiring a customer (CAC), which reflects how much money was spent persuading customers to buy something from your online store. For example, if you spent $2,000 to convince 50 visitors to buy something from you, your CAC value would be $40. The lower this number, the better.

The indicator of the number of “abandoned shopping carts” is also important, since it reflects how many visitors were going to buy a product from you, that is, the number of your potential buyers. Try to keep this figure as low as possible - high value This indicator may mean that your site requires improvement.

Average Order Value (AOV) is the average amount of money one customer spends when shopping on your site. You should try to constantly increase this indicator, for example, by offering discounts for bulk orders or additionally offering various related products or something similar. Amazon is great at using this type of tactic by placing links in the “people who buy this item also buy...” section.


The value of the client during his life cycle(LTV, Lifetime Value) is considered the most important indicator in e-commerce. It reflects the total amount of money spent by one customer minus the cost of acquiring him. So, if, for example, a customer returns to your online store four times and spends a total of $600, then the LTV value will be $560, assuming you spent $40 to attract him.


By tracking the information and key metrics listed above, you will be able to know exactly how successful your online business is at any stage. This can be very useful when you start planning to expand your business, increase your product range, increase your revenue, get more traffic to your site, and the like.

E-commerce is a rapidly growing activity. What opportunities does it provide to entrepreneurs? What are its features and advantages? You will find the answers in this article.

What is it?

E-commerce is new way running a business that provides more profits, benefits and opportunities. There are no or few intermediaries between the manufacturer and the end consumer. A visitor goes to the site, selects the product he likes and orders it. Then he receives it delivered to his home. This is convenient for both the client and the entrepreneur.

Why is e-commerce a significant cost reduction?

With this type of business activity, existing costs can be significantly reduced. In particular, the number of intermediaries is reduced, each of whom wants to get their share. As a result, the final cost of the product is significantly reduced. This means that an entrepreneur can use this to gain profit. One option is that you can significantly reduce the price of your product, thereby attracting more customers. Another option is to reduce the price a little and use the remaining difference to develop the business. For example, to carry out developments or introduce new technologies into production.

Why is e-commerce profitable?

It is much easier for the buyer to go to the website and view all the information he is interested in in a relaxed atmosphere. It saves time because... he doesn't have to get to the store. It saves money because... the price in an online store may be significantly lower. No one is rushing him, the buyer can calmly make a choice. This is also beneficial for the entrepreneur. After all, he doesn’t need to rent premises, set up a store, pay for public utilities. There is also usually no need to hire salespeople. In some cases, you can use the services of an online consultant. But neither security nor payment for warehouses and other costs is required. Products are delivered directly from the manufacturer to the buyer, bypassing many intermediaries.

Where can e-commerce be used?

In a variety of types of business. For example, if you are not the manufacturer of any product, you can act as an intermediary. You enter into an agreement with a company that produces any product necessary for consumers. Next, you create an online store in which you provide comprehensive information about the products and organize the acceptance of orders. You also need to think about payment methods and delivery of goods. The most reliable method of accepting payments is the billing system (Master Card and Visa Classic). However, to use such a calculation, a number of conditions must be met, which is not always possible. A method that many customers like is payment upon receipt of the goods. You can also use electronic payment systems (WebMoney, Ya.Money, etc.). A lot depends on what product you are selling. After all, the product does not have to be physical. Nowadays information is very valuable. E-commerce is an opportunity to sell various courses, trainings, and other materials.

Computer networks have globally changed society, actively intervened in the economy and business activity, influencing the formation of a new type of economic activity - entrepreneurship using the Internet and telecommunications systems. E-commerce, electronic commerce already constitutes a significant part of business in Russia, where parties when making transactions on the commodity market interact using computer data exchange via Internet technologies.

What is e-commerce

Thanks to the Internet, doing business remotely through communications has become accessible to entrepreneurs of all sizes: online trading through a virtual distribution channel requires almost no material investment. E-commerce includes Internet-oriented systems and stores using the communication environment BBS, VAN, etc. The means of payment for such sales are bank cards and electronic money.

Definition

E-commerce is a complex term, defined as an economic area involving the conduct of monetary and trade transactions through computer networks, which also includes business processes necessary to complete operations: electronic marketing, document management, delivery of goods/services. Information storage is organized on WEB servers of organizations that provide Internet services. Access to data is available upon client requests from browser programs.

The term implies the following operations:

• on information exchange (Electronic Data Interchange);
• on capital movements (Electronic Funds Transfer);
• trading (e-trade);
• in data collection systems;
• on money transfers;
• messaging;
• use of electronic finance (e-cash);
• marketing (e-marketing);
• electronic banking (e-banking);
• With electronic catalogs;
• for insurance services (e-insurance);
• with electronic forms;
• in “partner” systems;
• in news and information services.

Basic Concepts

Commerce on the Internet is implemented in the field of the network economy - an area where any company or person can interact with other entrepreneurs on joint transactions at minimal cost. The communication technologies used include: electronic information exchange (EDI), payment electronic system(EFT), additional services (value-added network).

Online stores, as a trading platform based on a web server for selling goods/services on the Internet, are the basis for the operation of an e-commerce system. The commercial transaction of selling goods through a virtual store includes a number of transactions. A transaction is a separate operation performed within the entire business cycle of an organization. To verify the authenticity of the participants in a transaction, authentication is required - a procedure for controlling the parties, the positive result of which will be the authorization of the user with the opening of access to the resource.

Pros and cons

The development of entrepreneurship through the Internet is attractive due to the low cost of acquiring a huge sales market with the expansion of business boundaries and access to the international market. This business model has no time restrictions, allowing sales around the clock, seven days a week, which significantly increases sales and income. For the consumer, e-commerce provides the benefits of buying cheap products while saving time in searching. The expansion of remote services opens up access to other areas, for example, electronic insurance services.

There are certain disadvantages that limit the use and development of e-commerce:

• Internet use does not reach a total level due to computer illiteracy, financial problems or mistrust of a number of potential users;
• the system is not suitable for selling perishable products;
• Many people are confused by the delivery time, possible problems when returning goods.

History of development

First commercial experience of doing business using communication technologies received in the USA in the 60s. XX century: American Airlines together with IBM began to create automated system booking seats on flights – Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment. Thanks to SABRE, independent remote purchasing of tickets, flights have become more affordable for passengers, and reservation automation has reduced the cost of fares.

Initially, maintenance was organized using proprietary electronic information exchange protocols. For development and acceleration, Electronic Data Interchange, transmission standards were created emails between users. By the 70s there were already 4 industrial designs information exchange when driving transport. At the same time, the Tradacoms specifications were developed in the UK, defined by the UN European Commission as a standard for international trade in data exchange.

in the world

In the 1980s, the merging of US and European specifications began. The EDIFACT template, formed on the basis of GTDI, began to be used to obtain the X400 mail transfer protocol, this brought e-business to a new level. If in 1996 sales via the Internet were in their infancy, by 2000 distance commerce had already become a significant part of the economy with a steadily growing electronic movement of capital. Companies have also appeared that teach how to make money remotely via the Internet, a prime example of this is INFINii.

In Russia

Internet network used by half of the Russian population, this type of trade is interesting for the merchant and the client. A well-known example of demand for services in Russia: e-Commerce Partners Network (ePN). By Data Insight Russia ranks 5th in the global market in terms of sales volumes. However, the development of our own electronic platforms is hampered by the lack legal regulation in national legislation. Organizations do not have legal protection, which gives rise to competitive unfairness.

Types of e-commerce

Forms of e-commerce are distinguished by interaction patterns:

1. For organizations:

• Business-to-Business B2B. Business to business (partner).
• Business-to-Consumer B2C. Business-consumer.
• Business-to-Employee B2E. With an employee.
• Business-to-Government B2G. With the government.
• Business-to-Operator B2O. With a telecom operator.

2. For consumers:

• Consumer-to-Administration C2A. With administrators.
• Consumer-to-business C2B. Consumer-business.
• Consumer-to-Consumer C2C. Consumer-consumer.

3. For the administration:

• Administration-to-Administration A2A. Between administrations.
• Administration-to-Business A2B. With commercial organizations.
• Administration-to-Consumer A2C. With consumers.

4. Other models: for the state, for society;

• Decentralized-to-Consumer D2C. Decentralized consumer relations based on Blockchain technology.
• Government-to-Business G2B. Government and commercial organization.
• Peer-to-Peer P2P. Between persons.

What is the difference between e-business and e-commerce?

The full cycle of any business consists of marketing research, production, sales and payments, and the measure of involvement in this process information services and communication technologies determines the level of classification of business to the electronic type. Commerce is a part of e-business, being a form of supply and delivery of products, where selection, ordering, and payment for goods occur through computer networks. Buyers can be individuals and organizations.

E-commerce market

This type of commerce is diverse. Main flow areas:

• marketing;
• sale and purchase, including electronic stores and bulletin boards;
• development and production of a product simultaneously by several companies, including through the search for cooperation through the “partner” system;
• administration (taxes, customs);
• transport services;
• accounting;
• payment systems;
• resolution of conflicts and disputes.

Prospects for the development of e-commerce

E-commerce, bringing increased competition and cost savings to businesses as business interests expand globally, has great potential for consumer benefit and business development, including joint commercial management of trading partners. According to forecasts, by the end of 2019, at least 60% of sales will be carried out online.

Video

E-commerce, or electronic commerce, is a special area of ​​the economy in which transactions are carried out through the use of computer networks.

For the most part, online stores and mobile applications of sellers, where you can easily purchase anything, have become popular in this area of ​​economic relations. Electronic payments are becoming increasingly common methods of interaction within e-commerce - through a bank application or website (Sberbank Online, for example), or contactless payments by card or via telephone ( Apple Pay). In addition, ordering and purchasing air or train tickets has become popular in Russia and around the world.

The wide spread of this area is due to the fact that electronic payments are reduced to a minimum level or completely eliminate the need for personal presence in the institution with which the user makes a transaction, and, consequently, the number of such remote transactions is growing. In addition, electronic payments are much faster than cash payments, which today, when time has become a particularly valuable resource, is very important and plays in favor of e-commerce. The development of telecommunication technologies, computers and information systems also influenced such large scale use of e-commerce.

Since carrying out transactions in this way is increasingly becoming part of our lives, it would be logical to assume that using e-commerce for a company is a sure way to significantly increase the number of potential and actual customers. Investment in the development of this area for each company pays off in a relatively shorter period of time.

Today it is customary to distinguish several types of e-commerce:

1. B2B, business to business, or business to business. IN in this case a purchase or sale occurs between two legal entities. When using e-commerce in the execution of these transactions, the time of operations decreases, the operations themselves become transparent, and therefore the relations between the actors are more honest. It is possible to track the status of an order, and for this it is enough to simply go to the website of the supplier company and, using the necessary amount of information, track what stage of execution a particular transaction is at.
2. B2C, business to consumer, or business to consumer. These relationships imply a transaction between a company and an individual. At the same time, there are significant advantages for the consumer: it becomes possible to evaluate the appearance and properties of the product, and you can also compare several product items with each other, which undoubtedly makes the choice easier. For the seller, the advantage of maintaining such a relationship with the consumer is beneficial due to the reduction in the number of personnel involved in processing orders, the costs of maintaining the office are also reduced. In addition, the seller can quickly respond to changing demand, therefore, change the range of products presented, carry out a certain advertising campaign, and improve the goods sold. This diagram often used by online retailers.
3. C2C, consumer to consumer, or consumer to consumer. This type of relationship arises between individuals, with trading taking place on special Internet platforms (for example, avito.ru), which are more like spontaneous markets or newspapers with advertisements for buying and selling. Such platforms include online auctions. The convenience of this scheme is that the product can be purchased at a lower price than on the store’s or seller’s website, but the product itself may be used (which, naturally, has a bad effect on orders for certain categories of goods). In addition, there are risks of concluding a deal with an dishonest buyer or seller, which negatively affects the existence of such trading platforms.

There are also a number of special types of e-commerce:

1. Mcommerce, mobile commerce, or mobile commerce. Literally, the idea of ​​this type of e-commerce is to create what the consumer needs, which is always with him: in his mobile phone. Today, there are several types of products offered within the framework of these relationships: ordering tickets through mobile application; transfer of funds; applications providing loyalty cards, various coupons for purchases from individual sellers; various news applications, services for hobbies: music, photography; mobile banks through which it is possible to carry out transactions without having to visit a bank branch, which significantly reduces the burden on the latter; other products.
2. Fcommerce, Facebook commerce, or commerce through the social network Facebook. This type e-commerce focuses on creating services on Facebook. This type is common when advertising a single product: users of this social network By giving positive ratings to a product on third-party sites, they guarantee that this product is good in certain characteristics, therefore, advertising takes place. Moreover, it can be effective, since people trust their friends, parents, and acquaintances rather than advertisers on the screen.
3. B2G, business to government, business - government. This type of relationship arises when governmental organizations carry out trade orders.
4. G2G, government to government, or government - government. Similar relationships within e-commerce arise between government agencies.
5. G2C, government to citizens, or state-citizens. In these relationships, there is interaction between government agencies and citizens. The latter are provided with access to the necessary government information.
6. C2B, consumer to business, consumer – business. This type of e-commerce is used when the buyer himself determines the price at which he can purchase a product or service from a separate company. In this case, the selling company acts as a broker who matches the price request with a manufacturer who is ready to sell the goods at a given price.
7. B2P, business to partners, or business partners. This type of relationship is common among business partners, in the interaction between the company and its branches, and when creating joint ventures.
8. B2E, business to employee, business - employee. This type of e-commerce relationship is used when communicating with staff.
9. B2B2C, business to business to consumer, or business - business - consumer. This type of e-commerce is derived from B2B and B2C. The essence of this relationship is that a B2B company pays a B2C company so that the latter can offer the former's services or products to its customers. In this case, there is a mutually beneficial relationship between the companies: a B2B company finds new channels for selling its products, new potential buyers, and for a B2C company the advantages lie in providing a wider range of products and increased sales.
10. E2E, exchange to exchange, exchange - exchange. This type of relationship is between sellers and buyers either within the same exchange or between different exchanges.

Chapter 2. E-commerce platforms

As global online sales grow every year, companies are increasingly asking how to enter the global e-commerce market. The answer lies in choosing the right platform that will meet the needs of a particular seller.

When choosing a specific platform, companies should approach it responsibly, taking into account the load on the future site, including its viewing depth and traffic. It is also worth taking into account the financial capabilities of the company and the company’s goals for developing the service in the future.

When comparing platforms, the following indicators are used:

1. Functional potential;
2. The ability of the system to adapt;
3. Capabilities for processing large databases;
4. Flexibility in data management;
5. Time frame for putting the system into operation;
6. Availability additional extensions, applications;
7. Cost of software, system introduction;
8. Regularity of updates;
9. Quality of technical support.

The world's major e-commerce platforms are presented in the following figure:

Fig.1. Major global e-commerce platforms in the world

It is worth describing each of the platforms:

• 1) WordPress is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. This system is very convenient due to its high installation speed and accessible documentation. This platform is used by both shopping sites and blogs. The former show less interest in this platform due to the simplicity of the functionality. WordPress offers a wide range of languages, various plugins and is easy to manage.
• 2) The second most popular platform is Joomla. She is distinctive user-friendly interface, but its disadvantage lies in the emergence of security problems when installing additional extensions and plugins, although without them the system provides a sufficient level of security.
• 3) Drupal Among the platforms presented above, it ranks third in popularity. The advantages of this system are the possibility of significantly expanding functionality, adapted to specific needs, but using this platform is very difficult.
• 4) Magento, used for large e-commerce projects, is used in only 1% of all websites in the world. The advantages of this system are the stable release of updates, the availability different languages use, the ability to use the free version to familiarize yourself with the platform. In addition, this system can be adapted to a wide range of companies. The disadvantages include the mandatory hiring of a qualified programmer by a company that decides to work on this platform, since using this system is quite complicated.

The main users of this platform include the following:

Fig.2 Major companies using the Magento platform

• 5) Demandware recognized as very difficult to use and focused on working with large projects. The advantages of this system include safety, reliability, and flexibility in use. The main disadvantage of this platform is the high license fee, which creates a threshold for large businesses to enter the platform: from 0.75% to 1.25% of sales through the online store per month.

The following companies use this system:

Fig.3 Major companies using the Demandware platform

• 6) IBM WebSphere Commerce Platform allows you to interact with consumers or businesses directly or through partners. The advantages of this system include the ability to maintain the site 24 hours a day, as well as the high quality of the services provided.

Companies that use this platform include the following:

Figure 2 Major companies using the IBM WebSphere Commerce platform

Chapter 3. E-commerce trends

It is worth recognizing that this market has received great development both in the world and in Russia. Its average growth rate in the world is 18-20%, in Russia – 17-18% per year. According to researchers, this market is still in its infancy, despite the spread of various e-commerce services. But it is generally accepted that companies that do not develop in this direction can definitely disappear from the market in the future. But it is worth noting that in Russia, as in the United States, a large number of online stores belong to a small number of offline networks, and the absorption process continues.

You can track changes in the global e-commerce market in the following graph:

Rice. 4. E-commerce market worldwide during the period 2012-2017, amounts in trillions, percentage changes

Trends in this market include the widespread use of Mcommerce, which is gaining momentum. It is estimated that if a company does not tailor its services to mobile phones, there is a high probability of losing 25% of consumers.

It is also possible to define multichannel in relation to market trends: for online stores this means opening points for issuing goods, for offline companies it is necessary to open online stores.

The use of Big Data, which involves analyzing large databases with the subsequent identification of difficult-to-define relationships between individual indicators. The results obtained are subsequently used by companies to determine further actions on successful functioning in the market. The use of Big Data helps to deepen the personalization of stores, complicating the mechanism for setting up product selection, but at the same time this is a plus for the consumer, since he can adjust the choice to his own preferences, and the list of criteria for choosing products becomes larger, making the products presented at the end of the selection more suitable for individual buyer.

Logistics has been actively developing in the e-commerce market. In relation to Russian realities, this problem is sharp. Today, a large number of goods distribution points are being built, delivery channels are being set up that could ensure a short travel time for the product from the seller to the consumer.

In addition, it is worth noting that trade automation is also developing: for now, these capabilities are available to global giants (Amazon, for example), but later automation of purchases, order collection, delivery, etc. will be widely used in Russia.

Thus, we can conclude that the e-commerce market is rapidly developing and growing not only in the Russian Federation, but throughout the world. This is reflected in the search for new approaches to trading via the Internet, and the search for new channels for using e-commerce. Despite high competition, the markets of the post-Soviet space are not yet on the same level as the world ones, but, importantly, Russian sellers, realizing this, are trying to adapt to existing conditions. As it develops information technology The field for action in which Russian companies will be able to express themselves will also increase.