The Information technology provides a new platform for the trade activities and is growing fast. One of the benefits of IT is its power to link the whole globe. This has changed today’s business environment dramatically. Internet has become a global market which could penetrate in to various geographic markets successfully. In this system the business organizations no longer need to provide a luxury office space instead through a virtual environment can trade goods and services without an intermediate link.
It is also known to everyone that e-commerce doesn’t emit any pollutants and uses low energy and natural resources. The internet replaces buildings into websites and warehouses to supply chain software.
What is e-commerce ?
Electronic commerce or e-commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. In other words ,buying and selling of products and services over the internet or other electronic networks is called e-commerce. It promises to make buying and selling fast, efficient , transparent and cheap . Various e-business models in use are as under.
B2B (Business-to-Business) -Companies doing business with each other such as manufacturers selling to distributors and wholesalers selling to retailers.
B2C (Business-to-Consumer)- Businesses selling to the general public typically through catalogs utilizing shopping cart software.
C2B(Consumer-to-Business)- A consumer posts his project with a set budget online and interested companies review the consumer's requirements and bid on the project. The consumer reviews the bids and selects the company that will complete the project.
C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) -There are many sites offering free classifieds, auctions, and forums where individuals can buy and sell . e-Bay's auction service is a great example of where person-to-person transactions take place every day since 1995.
Environmental impact of e-commerce.
E-Commerce has both positive and negative impact on ecosystem. The effect of e-commerce on environment reflects on three aspects - Energy, Resources and Pollution.
Energy
It is commonly believed that e-commerce industry demand lower energy compared to the traditional industry. This is because of the reduced use of warehouses, showrooms and factories. However the computers and other communication equipments required for the electronic industry consumes a lot of electricity which inturn increase the requirement of electricity generating units. These units are one of the major causes of environment pollution in many countries.
Resources
As e-industry reduces the requirement of showrooms and warehouses, the consumption of natural resources like land , wood, cement, steel and iron etc. are less. And e-commerce said to have reduced the usage of petrol by promoting the teleshopping and telecommunication. However, the globalization and e-village concept made it easy to purchase goods from faraway places which increase shipping in general. Even though the teleshopping involves the transportation of physical items in some way or the other , it has considerably reduced the customers visit to stores using their own vehicles and inturn reduce the toxic green gas emissions.
Though the advancement of e-industry was expected to reduce the usage of paper , the overall effect is the reverse. The usage of paper has been increasing along with the e-industry . Various studies point out that the paper usage in the developed countries were much lower before the e-commerce era.
Pollusion
The growth of Information Technology resulted in increased usage of computer and other electronic equipments . The production of computer components like semiconductors, micro-chips, batteries etc causes significant green gas emission which adversely affect the ecosystem .
Also e-waste is one of the major concerns of the developed countries today as recycling of the scraped electronic instruments produces toxic gases and other harmful substances which cause serious damage to the ecosystem.
Conclusion
E-commerce is a two- edged sword , it has its own share of advantages and risks. The commonly recognized advantages are the reduced usage of resources , energy and less transportation. The major risk is the pollution and increased usage of paper which has a serious implication on the ecosystem.
It is a good sign that most of the companies are taking these issues seriously and promoting environment saving activities. Awareness campaigns are conducted for employees which is expected to reduce the energy and other resource usage.
