Key Difference between Traditional Commerce and Ecommerce

 Long gone and forgotten are the days when commercial activities such as exchange of goods and services for money, between two parties, had to take place in a traditional setting. The customer going to the marketplace, checking out a variety of products, choosing required stuff, purchasing them and then paying the specific amount is what marks traditional commerce. However, nowadays with technological innovations, modern ways of selling goods and services have come up. For instance, e-commerce, where people buy and sell products via the Internet.

Differences between Traditional Commerce and E-commerce

There are major differences between traditional and e-commerce. Below are some of the fundamental differences

Exchange of Traditional Commerce and E-Commerce :

Traditional commerce focuses on the exchange of products and services through personal interactions and is therefore manual while e-commerce trading activities are online via the internet and can be considered automatic

Timing of Traditional Commerce and E-Commerce :

Traditional commerce is limited to time business hours mostly during the day while e-commerce is 24/7, it can be done anytime day and night

Physical Interaction in Traditional Commerce and E-Commerce :

Traditional commerce allows a buyer to be physical inspect goods and test out services before making a purchase. Conversely, with e-commerce, products and services are not examined physically.

Face to Face :

As far as consumer interactions are concerned, traditional commerce provides face to face. On the other hand, e-commerce can be termed as screen to face interaction.

Geographical location:

Traditional commerce is limited to a particular geographical location while e-commerce is global and has no physical limitation.

Platform in Traditional Commerce and E-Commerce:

With traditional commerce, there’s no uniform platform for information exchange. Contrariwise, e-commerce has a unique uniform platform for exchanging information

Business relationship:

Business relationships with conventional commerce is linear while with e-commerce it is end to end.

Marketing in Traditional Commerce and E-Commerce:

When it comes to marketing, traditional commerce takes on a one-way marketing approach. E-commerce, on the other hand, takes on a one on one marketing strategy.

Payment involved in Traditional Commerce and E-Commerce:

Modes of payment in traditional commerce include cash, cheques, and credit cards. With e-commerce, there’s electronic funds transfer, credit card numbers and more.

Delivery:

Good and delivery of services is instant with traditional commerce while e-commerce delivery takes some time.