IndexIntroductionPersonal opinion on e-commerce and e-businessRoles of e-business and e-commerce in today's business worldReduction of business costsIncreased marketing efficiencyCentralized informationIncreased inventory controlIncreased revenueCase study: AlibabaConclusionReferencesIntroductionE-commerce is a subset of e-business and is essentially a platform that allows companies to communicate and offer their products and services directly to consumers through online transactions. Using an online platform, people can buy, sell, order and pay through various payment modes without the need for face-to-face interaction. Transactions can be Business to Business (B2B), Business to Customer (B2C) and Customer to Customer (C2C). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In comparison, e-business refers to all commercial activities carried out through or with the help of the Internet. E-business includes not only the purchase or sale of goods, but all communications within the company and with customers, the provision of customer services, financial transactions, online technical support and transfer electronic information. E-business makes use of websites, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and customer relationship management systems to bring together different business departments and ensure uninterrupted communication which can be used to optimize all processes such as production, operations and marketing. E-business can be Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C). The main element of e-business is e-commerce which offers the ability to transact online. Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba are some examples of currently thriving e-commerce businesses. Using Alibaba as a case study, this report highlights the importance of e-business and e-commerce in today's business world. Personal opinion on e-commerce and e-businessThere is an exponential increase in the number of people who prefer to shop online in recent years and the number is increasing with each passing week. We spend most of our time surfing the Internet for study, business, work, learning, marketing or entertainment and it is very difficult to imagine what we would do if there was no Internet. Businesses are aware of this fact and this is why most businesses turn to online model as opposed to traditional physical stores to attract more customers. There are many reasons why I firmly believe that e-commerce has played an effective role in improving our daily lives and we will continue to do so. First, e-commerce offers a wide range of opportunities. For people living in small towns or villages, there is a lack of choice due to the limited number of shops and the limited number of products and services available, most of which are produced locally (Chaffey, 2015). The conventional model is also limited by traders' ability to store goods and therefore continually need to churn out fresh produce to meet demand. E-commerce, on the other hand, is free from such limitations and thus expands the boundaries of traditional commerce. With e-commerce it is possible to browse multiple websites at the same time and compare products in real time, making the shopping experience faster and more convenient than visiting several stores (Awais & Samin, 2012). Deciding which product to buy is also easier as you can add the product to your cart and make payment at your convenience. The average total timeto make a purchase is less than 30 minutes in e-commerce where it traditionally took an entire day. This is the main reason why I believe that e-commerce surpasses traditional commerce by providing faster access to a variety of goods. E-commerce also leads to lower prices than traditional businesses for customers compared to traditional methods, selling goods and services online is cheaper for businesses due to lower overhead costs. In offline business the costs, including store rent, recurring expenses, security costs, management costs, transportation costs, inventory costs, salaries, among others, make it difficult for businesses sell goods at reduced prices (Sila, 2013). This is why I believe e-commerce is becoming popular as it effectively minimizes fixed and variable costs, making it possible to offer and obtain goods and services at low prices. Furthermore, I observe that e-commerce provides instant notifications to customers about better deals and offers. Traditionally, customers weren't aware of the latest products available at their local businesses until they visited the location, and often by the time they learned about them, the products were outdated or out of stock. Local retailers were also unaware of the products available in the international market. Although there was a difference in the consumption habits, profile, mindset and purchasing pattern of individuals who belonged to metros and smaller cities (Solaymani, Sohaili & Yazdinejad, 2012), overall the spread of information was slow. However, due to the rapid growth of e-commerce and communication technology, everyone, including people in remote regions, instantly receive notifications and messages from sellers regarding the latest discount offers. In today's digital age, consumers are able to find the most suitable offers within seconds via automated notifications on their mobile phones. As a result, e-commerce has been effective in connecting consumers to businesses, eliminating the disparities and gap that exists between people living in villages and those in metropolitan areas (Chen & Holsapple, 2013). In doing so, e-commerce has leveled the playing field for all businesses, opening markets for all businesses globally. This is why I believe e-commerce is and will continue to be a game changer. Roles of e-business and e-commerce in today's business world E-business is a term that includes electronic sales, e-learning, e-commerce. -commerce, e-banking and online communication. It plays an important role in how organizations conduct business, thereby shaping the global economy. The roles that e-business plays in today's business include the following. Reducing Business Costs The main advantage that companies have with e-business is cost reduction. Digitalization virtually eliminates the need to have a physical presence in the form of a physical store or workplace. Unless they want to, companies are not obligated to rent space to work or pay utilities. Furthermore, marketing costs for an e-commerce business are less expensive than conventional marketing (Gupta, 2014). Therefore, e-business offers start-ups and other small businesses the opportunity to reach a larger market and compete with large, established organizations without incurring huge costs. Technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning have helped such companies reduce operational costs, thereby increasing productivity. Increased Marketing Efficiency Approximately 93% of online shoppers use search engines like Googleto search for products. Through search engine optimization (SEO), organizations are able to reach a larger customer base and increase customer engagement by practicing e-business best practices (Ray, 2012). Email marketing and retargeting are examples of modern technologies that facilitate customer acquisition, thus giving businesses the opportunity to target their ideal buyers while reducing advertising costs. Through e-business, companies can spend their marketing budget wisely rather than on banners that may be blocked or ignored by customers. Centralized Information The latest e-business capabilities allow associations to store huge amounts of information on the cloud keeping it secure as well as easily available. For example, cloud facilitation offers a means to store customer data, financial documents, audio and video recordings, contracts and different types of information eliminating the need for a physical office as all information is always accessible with a mouse click from anywhere in the world. Greater inventory control Thanks to e-business and the latest advances in IT, organizations can mechanize logistics processes, process orders, update inventory and issue notifications. E-business allows companies to offer greater transparency to executives along with greater control (Namvar and Khalilzadeh, 2013). Automated inventory management tools help companies save time and reduce human error, resulting in reduced operational expenses and improved skills, as they can focus on core processes without worrying about trivial things. Increase Income The latest e-business tools and systems are designed to increase revenue for a business. Such processes and methodologies reduce expenses and improve efficiency within an organization (Wynn, Turner, & Lau, 2013). CRM, ERP, data-driven advertising, and other automated functions contribute to the growth of an organization as greater efficiency means more productivity and more revenue as more work is done in less time (Zhu, et al., 2015). Additionally, the office can effectively share meaningful information instantly helping them achieve the best results by bringing stakeholders closer together in the process. Case Study: AlibabaAlibaba Group is an example of a company that operates through an e-business structure and has branches all over the world. The essential goal of the association is to build a worldwide online trading system with the aim of providing services to a large customer base by creating a strong business organization (Du, et al., 2013). Alibaba offers sellers a convenient platform to connect with customers and offer their products worldwide based on a solid IT foundation. Alibaba makes use of Big Data services linked to the microfinance system (Fan, et al., 2018) that allow the organization to supervise and manage business statistics in real time. The organization's unique methodology is spreading its business globally by connecting small and medium-sized businesses to large organizations with a global marketplace with varying costs depending on the level of interest in a specific location. Through its e-business model, Alibaba can empower local businesses, greatly improving the organization's power in the local market (Leong, et al., 2016). With the help of the latest technological advancements and its fruitful promotion technique, the organization is expanding its e-business across the globe. In this way, Alibaba basically focuses on developing its own., 52(6), 679-691.