E-commerce is an exemplary concept in the future of textileand apparel industry. It is playing a major role in the present scenario oftextile and apparel industry. It is also very significant that the future oftextile and apparel industry is complete only with E-commerce. Diverse e-commerce applications are being implemented inthe textile and apparel supply chain. Information andcommunication technologies (ICTs) have the capacity to make extravagant amountsof information available to users located in various parts of the world. ICTsalso facilitate rapid communication between them. One application of thesetechnologies is in the development of e-commerce to support electronic trading.


E-Commerce A New Concept and Scope


E-commerce can be specified as any form of economic activityconducted through computer-mediated networks. The potential of e-commercecaught public's attention as a result of ventures such as the electronicbookshop. As a result there are a growing number of other Internet-based retailersin the business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce area. However,business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce is growing much more quickly than B2Cforms of electronic trading. E-commerce is a new andexciting technology, attracting much interest. It has the power offundamentally changing the ways in which companies do business. It is having aprofound effect on the management of the supply chain. Aspects of e-commerceare much diversified.


E-commerce has a large impact on industry as awhole, including aspects associated with Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce,business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. In recent years there has been a dramatic increase incompanies practicing electronic commerce. Two basic modes of organizing suchcompanies have emerged. The first is creating a "brick-and-mortar"company, by installing an e-commerce division. The second is initiation of anenterprise as an electronic commerce company (dot.com), without previousorganizational links to a traditional "brick-and-mortar"organization. Both modes of corporate practice of electronic commerce requireredesign, recalibration, and even restructuring of key organizationaldimensions. In such companies, there is also a question of applicability oftraditional organizational dimensions to this new format of conductingcommerce. As electronic markets and electronic commerce proliferate, there hasbeen a marked increase in scientific studies of this phenomenon.


The emerging conventional wisdom suggests that electroniccommerce is different enough to warrant an in-depth examination of traditionalorganization design in the present global scenario;e-commerce and e-business have increasingly become a necessary component ofbusiness strategy. E-commerce also acts as a strong catalyst for economic development.The integration of information and communications technology (ICT) in businesshas heavily improved inter organization relationships and intra organizationalrelationships. Specifically, the use of ICT in business has improvedproductivity, encouraged greater customer participation, and enabled masscustomization and has also reduced costs. With the help of developments in theInternet and Web-based technologies, distinctions between traditional marketsand the global electronic marketplace are gradually being narrowed down. Thestrategic positioning, the ability of a company to determine emergingopportunities and utilize the necessary human capital skill is the main aim ofeach and every firm. To make the most of these opportunities through an e-businessstrategy that is simple, workable and practicable within the context of aglobal information milieu and new economic environment is the focus ofe-commerce. E-commerce coupled with the appropriate strategy and policyapproach enables small and medium scale enterprises to compete with large andcapital-rich businesses.



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About the Author


The author is associated with the Department of Fashion Technology, PSGCollege of Technology, Coimbatore