E-Commerce: A New Aspect of Shopping

 written by 10126 Ha Ye Won

What Is E-Commerce?

After the outbreak of COVID-19, many companies have encountered stagnation because people were not allowed to go shopping freely due to social distancing. However, e-commerce became a global boom. E-commerce is the business of buying and selling goods and services on the Internet. It’s an abbreviation for electronic and commerce.

There are lots of e-commerce platforms in South Korea, such as Coupang, Auction, Gmarket, Naver Shopping, SSG, Market Kurly, etc.

“I could get products at a fast pace and at a lower price,” one of Market Kurly’s customers said.

As social distancing continues, the age group of people using e-commerce in South Korea has expanded, and products sold through e-commerce are diverse. According to the Bank of Korea, the turnover of e-commerce was $140 billion in 2020, which is the highest record ever.

E-Commerce Made Lives Better

There’s no fixed time limit, such as closing time, so people can always access e-commerce platforms. In addition, they can shop anywhere regardless of employees at offline stores.

People don’t have to move around while shopping. It’s convenient for everyone. Offline stores might be crowded if popular, but people don’t have to wait for crowds online. Even paying takes a shorter time than offline.

People can easily find goods they want to buy through subcategories on the platforms. E-commerce companies can track their customers’ search content and analyze their preferences. By using the data, consumers can receive recommendations of optimal products from the companies.

People can consider others’ reviews on the products they are agonizing over. Also, they could compare similar products simultaneously, which helps them to make a practical choice.

E-commerce can save energy because people don’t need to use gasoline or petrol to go somewhere when they shop. Instead, they scroll down and click on the cellphone screen.

 

Dark Side of E-Commerce

Although people can gain many advantages while using e-commerce, there are dark sides to the system.

People might not get enough personal service from e-commerce platforms because there isn’t a clerk there. Even if there are phone consultants, customers may have difficulty communicating with them due to the untact situations.

People cannot touch or see the actual products, so they don’t know the exact state of products. This untact shopping often leads to unexpected returns or refunds.

People can’t receive what they bought right away after ordering it. Even though there are many fast-delivery services in South Korea, getting products in a few hours is impossible.

There is a lot of waste when it comes to delivery. For instance, Coupang has been criticized for the mass quantity and box sizes used for parcel service. There are cases where they put only a single product in each box. People are worried about the environmental destruction caused by too much paper.

Privacy is one of the most critical problems of e-commerce. Some companies might use cookies to track their customers’ personal information for bad intentions. They might abuse customers’ payment information and siphon off their assets.

Current Issue Related to a Law Amendment

In April 2021, the Fair-Trade Commission amended the law about e-commerce. Suppose an e-commerce customer doesn’t get their product and cannot contact the retailer or the middleman. Then, in that case, the platform must assume responsibility and provide the customer with the retailer’s identity information. This amendment means platforms have to get actively involved in the process of solving conflicts.

The law was amended because there have been lots of cases in which retailers cheat customers by being out of contact or rejecting refunds.

However, platforms are strongly objecting to this amendment. They claim that it’s not themselves who offer customers products. This amendment would also cause privacy intrusion problems and maybe lead to consumers not purchasing products from the platforms.

One of the researchers at the Korea Consumer Agency refuted that if joint responsibility is reinforced, credibility upon e-commerce platforms would be improved.

Also, the researcher stated there would be more and more retailers and customers who want to use those platforms so that everyone could make a profit and coexist in the long term. After all, we have to be concerned about healthy spending culture as consumers.

Future of E-Commerce Market

At first, it looks like the e-commerce market is booming due to COVID-19, but many experts predict that it will become more significant. The situation of COVID-19 has continued for more than a year.

Furthermore, MZ generations born between the early 1980s and early 2000s have resolute shopping styles. They pursue convenience, and they are familiar with the digital environment. They consume not only for needs but also satisfaction depending on their taste by utilizing SNS or live commerce.

For example, Instagram added a shopping tab so that its users can easily shop on the app.

Through live commerce, sellers and customers can communicate interactively. This interaction supplements the shortcomings of e-commerce. By asking and answering, sellers could make their goods more appealing to consumers. Also, consumers could get detailed information about those particular goods.

Like this, e-commerce is making changes in our lives and the culture of shopping. However, as the digital environment becomes handy, people need to consider resulting problems such as overconsumption, fraudulent dealing, etc.