Growth of e-commerce between developed countries and developing countries
Published on 11 July 13
Rehan0
Electronic commerce, known by many as e-commerce is the industry whereby businesses and consumers trade over the Internet and other computer networks around the world. E-commerce comes in three main forms, Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C), with B2C the main focus of this article, and the highest growth sector of e-commerce as a whole.
E-commerce has been apparent in developed countries for many years with companies such as Amazon and Ebay being powerhouses, but also that many businesses have an online website where consumers can buy products or services from. However, in developing countries such as those in Africa, the role that e-commerce is slowly accelerating. It is via the online communication and can help these countries access the global markets.
Whilst in both developed and developing countries, Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have the most to gain from the increases in e-commerce, and would give SMEs the opportunity to develop a foothold in a multilateral trading system. E-commerce can help both developed and developing countries SMEs as it allows them to start up for a small cost, whereas without e-commerce many entrepreneurs, especially in developing countries, may deter away from setting up a business due to the high costs of acquiring a premises.
There is an obvious North - South divide in the world, where the northern hemisphere has a far higher proportion of businesses participating in e-commerce than in the southern hemisphere.
Developing countries have grown in terms of their e-commerce and digital activity since 2011, where the Middle East and Africa’s digital buying network has increased from 30million in 2011 to 50million in 2013, showing a significant increase in areas such as Africa, where e-commerce has positively affected the economy.
However, in developed regions such as Western Europe and North America, the growth of e-commerce and digital buyers is still on the rise, but is set to level off near 2016, where in Europe there will only be an increase of 15million in 3 years, a relatively small amount compared to the population of the region, with developing countries seeing almost double that in the same time period.
China, still classed as a developing country by most, have seen the highest level of growth in Internet users and e-commerce in the world, with 389million internet users, Chinas e-commerce has become a formidable force, with an increase of $60billion since 2009, with an further predicted increase of $30billion to $176billion in 2014, showing that developing countries are grasping e-commerce and it is becoming a powerful force in how they trade, which has been seen in developed countries for many years. One of the biggest advantages that these developing countries have is that they have grasped the notion of utilizing a custom PC to perform a variety of tasks. With the cost of technology decreasing quite considerably over the last few years it is no coincidence that these countries are those that are growing the fastest.
E-commerce could be argued to be one of the most important factors in the improvement of developing countries overall GDP, allowing them to trade in the global economy and grow as a result. Many developed countries, e-commerce is becoming more significant, where in the UK, e-commerce is taking over the high street and can be seen to be the factor into why some city centre areas are becoming deserted, as people find it more convenient and cheaper to shop online.
Related Posts:
Post a Comment
