This chapter explains the overview of e-commerce and the importance of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in modern business. E-commerce consists of the purchasing and selling of products or services through electronic systems, such as computer networks and the internet. In this modern world of technology, e-commerce is becoming a very significant option for many businesses as there are lots of companies that are interested in developing their online stores. E-commerce becomes one of the preferred ways of shopping as they enjoy their online because of its easiness and convenience. Because of its convenience, consumers can save time as well as money by searching their products easily and making purchasing online. The chapter argues that applying e-commerce has the potential to enhance organizational performance and gain sustainable competitive advantage in modern business.
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E-commerce has become an important factor in determining the future survival of organizations (Holsapple & Singh, 2000). E-commerce has substantial potential to foster the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developed and developing countries (Kurnia, Choudrie, Mahbubur, & Alzougool, 2015). Much of the existing literature on the SMEs' adoption of e-commerce technologies seeks to explain the e-commerce adoption behavior from the perspective of technology adoption, using theoretical frameworks, such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1975), the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), and the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) (Rogers, 1995). Gibbs and Kraemer (2004) explained that the scope of e-commerce adoption across ten different countries is influenced by national factors such as government policy and e-commerce legislation.
The emergence of e-commerce presents the new challenges in understanding the consumers’ switching intentions in the context of e-commerce in general and online auctions in particular (Lin, Cheng, Wang, & Chang, 2012). E-commerce consists of the purchasing and selling of products or services through electronic systems, such as computer networks and the Internet (Kasemsap, 2016b). E-commerce presents consumers with a convenient way of shopping outside of their local jurisdiction (Alm & Melnik, 2012). Online shopping seems to primarily reflect a desire for time efficiency on the part of the shopper (Anesbury, Nenycz-Thiel, Dawes, & Kennedy, 2016). Experience with online shopping directly increases the consumer's intention to use the Internet to buy products (Soopramanien, 2011).