Nowadays, having an e-commerce platform is just as important as having a website. However, it takes significant effort to build and maintain one.
E-commerce is a system that allows you to buy or sell a product or service online. In simple terms, these platforms help manage online payments and transactions.
It’s important to understand that there are two main types of e-commerce, each with its own subcategories, which we’ll explain below.
Types of E-commerce
- According to the Commercial Profile
B2B (Business-to-Business): These are companies whose end customers are other businesses or organizations. It involves company-to-company transactions and is one of the most common models.
Examples: Ford Motor, Apple, and Exxon Mobil.
B2C (Business-to-Consumer): These businesses sell directly to the final consumers, offering their products or services directly through the web.
Examples: Spotify, Amazon, and Carrefour.
C2B (Consumer-to-Business): These platforms allow consumers to offer a product or service, and businesses compete to acquire it. This creates value for companies, and they purchase the offering.
C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): These platforms make it easy for consumers to sell products to other consumers. Some of the best-known examples include eBay, Wallapop, or any second-hand sales portal.
- According to the Business Model
Dropshipping: Unlike traditional e-commerce, in this model, the seller does not ship the product themselves. Instead, a third party handles the shipping process.
Affiliate E-commerce: Similar to dropshipping, the company doesn’t handle the shipping. However, there’s an added layer: the purchase doesn’t happen on the same platform. The website refers the customer to another store and earns a commission when the sale is confirmed.
Subscription/Membership Model: This type of e-commerce is focused on generating recurring purchases. Customers subscribe for a weekly, monthly, bimonthly, or annual fee. These are popularly known as “subscription boxes” — every period, a surprise box with various products is delivered. Depending on the type of business, these may include beauty products, health items, fitness gear, and more.
Marketplace: This is essentially a store made up of many stores — a platform where multiple sellers offer their products on the same website.
Services: In this model, what’s offered are services rather than physical products. It’s important to note that e-commerce isn’t limited to buying or selling products — it’s also a valuable channel for selling services online.
Benefits of Creating Your Own Online Store or E-commerce Site
The benefits are countless, but here are the most important ones — the ones we know you’re looking for to achieve your desired results:
- Reach more clients in different locations
- No fixed hours — a website is open 24/7 for customers
- Lower costs
- Higher profit margins
- Serve multiple customers simultaneously
4 Tools to Build Your Online Store
WooCommerce is a plugin that runs on WordPress, one of the most popular content management systems in the world. This digital commerce solution is a favorite among beginners thanks to the intuitive WordPress dashboard, making it easy to understand and use even if you have no prior experience.
From this platform, you can publish products, process payments, and more. You can also enhance the plugin’s functionality through dedicated extensions.
Shopify allows you to design your online store based on your preferences — no programming knowledge required. It’s very simple and allows you to create your e-commerce site quickly and efficiently. Its user-friendly and effective interface ensures you won’t waste time navigating the platform.
This e-commerce tool focuses on setting up an online store quickly and efficiently. It’s easy to use and offers great features. One of its best qualities is its powerful product management, multiple payment options, customizable payment pages, and even tax configuration capabilities.
Magento is geared toward larger-scale businesses. It allows you to create both small and large online stores, but it requires web development experience, so if you’re not a programmer, you’ll likely need professional help.
While it’s not the easiest platform to use, it offers a vast array of features — including built-in SEO tools, security settings, themes, and plugins. It’s definitely one of the most complete platforms available.
3 E-commerce Projects in Ecuador We’ve Helped Develop
A company that sells agricultural chemicals and animal feed. Altitude developed the strategy and implementation for their online sales, achieving a conversion rate of over 1.4%.
Selling mattresses online — especially in Ecuador — seemed like a tough challenge, but we accepted it. Since then, we’ve far exceeded the goals of this prestigious brand in the digital world.
We also had the opportunity to work on the nationwide online sales of dermocosmetic products in Ecuador. Biofemme is now one of the most recognized brands in its category — something we attribute to a solid initial strategy in digital advertising and website optimization.
Aros RW, Mundobelleza, Elarbolito, Redcrab, Megatoninos, Dermanutrix, and many more…
If you’d like to know about other successful e-commerce projects we’ve developed in Ecuador, don’t hesitate to contact us!