E-Commerce is a business model that enables a firm/individual to conduct business over an electronic network, typically the Internet. The consumer and seller or service provider interaction gets better and more efficient. E-commerce facilitates the online sale of goods and services by making web-based transactions safer for both parties. It has a tremendous potential to benefit farmers, small-scale industries, and indigenous communities.
Electronic commerce (e-commerce) in agriculture aims to transform the way farmers and small-scale food producers are connected with the market. It is a way of selling products through online channels like social media, SMS, WhatsApp, e-mails, and specialized websites. Selling produce through online channels enables farmers to bypass intermediaries, leading to improved income for the farmers, reduced wastage, and fresher produce for customers. E-commerce can also play a key role in enhancing the livelihoods of rural poor farming households by rising household incomes and improving their nutritional status.
Accessibility: Accessibility is one of the main advantages of e-commerce. Any product or service being offered within the country can be found online through its various websites. Availability of products online means that they are accessible to everyone, anywhere in the country regardless of location.
Middlemen elimination: E-commerce has eliminated middlemen and reduced inventory. This makes it simple for a farmer to pass on the benefits to consumers at low prices. For example, eNAM (Electronic National Agricultural Market) platform has helped farmers by directly connecting them to markets and eliminating middlemen.
Better sales: E-commerce is presumably a boon for farmers, small-scale industries and indigenous communities. It promises better sales with reduced costs and improved access to markets in place of the mandi. However, the number of farmers accessing e-commerce still remains far from satisfactory level.
Marketing: Marketing plays a major role in creating awareness about the products and services provided by different stakeholders in agro-businesses. Among all the stakeholders, farmers have played a key role in ensuring that the quality and quantity of their agricultural products are maintained at par with the demand of consumers.
Increased Business Reach: The benefits of e-commerce extend to industries that are not traditionally seen as being online businesses at all. Take the case of farmers who sell their harvest in the local market. They can use an online system to advertise their products and reach a wider market, which means more profits for them.
Low Operational Cost: The e-Commerce portals can enable the rural & semi-urban population to reach the products at lower cost and even avail themselves in installments. The other big advantage in e-commerce is that a consumer can buy products from different sellers on a single platform making it convenient for him/her to compare costs, prices, and product quality.
Feedback: The feedback online makes it easy for buyers to provide feedback directly to the seller, who can remove various discrepancies and ensure better products. The absence of such opportunities in the retail environment makes it difficult for customers to provide their feedback and review products.
Ease of Product tracking: Product tracking is one of the best advantages of online business. In an e-business, one can track product location, status, sales, and digital records of it. These facilities are responsible for saving time as well as money. A business owner can easily check the progress of his products online. It also helps in notifying clients about the product availability.
Access: E-commerce bypasses such barriers to commerce and provides Indigenous communities with a unique opportunity for their products and services to reach a global market. For many Indigenous peoples, particularly in remote communities, online marketplaces represent the first chance to effectively reach outside their immediate geographical region.
Middlemen elimination: E-commerce is disrupting many industries and is currently growing into a global phenomenon like never before. It has aided in eliminating many middlemen in the supply chain to provide a ‘more organic’ process for indigenous communities, small-scale industries, and farmers alike.
Inclusive development: E-Commerce, or online shopping, is a great platform for inclusive development. Thus, sharing goods and services are now made available to rural, indigenous communities and farmers from far corners of the globe. However, excluding them would be an injustice to their needs in terms of opportunities for livelihood improvement.