Ecommerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. For a retailer it usually means an online store where customers browse products, pay electronically and receive their order by delivery or in-store collection, alongside or instead of physical trading.
An ecommerce store has a storefront that shoppers see, a catalogue of products with prices and images, a cart and checkout, a payment gateway that authorises card or wallet payments, and an order management process behind the scenes. Platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento provide these pieces, while custom builds suit unusual requirements.
Retailers use ecommerce to reach customers beyond their trading area, to keep selling outside opening hours and to offer services such as click and collect. Hospitality and venue operators use the same approach for online ordering, vouchers and ticketing.
The most common pitfall is running the website as a separate business from the stores. If stock levels, prices and customer records are keyed in twice, the site will oversell products, show wrong prices and frustrate customers. Connecting the store to the POS and inventory system through integration keeps one source of truth. Speed, mobile usability, clear delivery costs and trustworthy checkout also affect whether visitors actually buy.
Ecommerce matters because many customers now research and buy online before, or instead of, visiting a store. RetailCare builds ecommerce sites connected to POS systems so that online and in-store trading share the same stock and product data.