The consequences of e-commerce on employment

The development of new technologies and Internet caused real changes in our society. Thanks to them we are connected with each other all the time and nearly everywhere in the world. The companiesalso invested a lot of money to adapt themselves and it’s in this context/this way that was born the notion of Electronic commerce, also called Electronic Business. It consists of buying and sellingproducts or services on electronic system like internet.

This new way of making shopping modified the customer’s behavior as well as the companies’ behavior, especially regarding the employment. Thegrowth of E-business is revolutionizing the world of work.

First of all, we are going to see the bad effects of e-business on employment and then we will move on, on the positives aspects.

I wouldlike to start by mentioning that a company which sells products online works approximately like a real company, but the main objective is to avoid middlemen in order to offer the best prices.Indeed prices depend of the competitiveness of each company and as you know, the competition is really intense on Internet. It pushes companies to offer the lowest prices. If a company is not competitiveenough, it can go bankrupt.

It’s what happen to the “traditional stores” which are struggling to cope with E-business’s competition.

E-commerce offers a wide range of goods and choices, withvery attractive prices; I suppose you have all already noticed that often it is cheaper to buy online than in a traditional shop? Do you know why?

I will give you an example : in France, the shopscan’t “organize sales” whenever they want because of the legislation so they must respect the law and “offer sales” only when its allowed, whereas, the E-business doesn’t have any law about sales andspecial offers : so they can offer lower prices.
As you can see, the traditional companies don’t have the same rights or the same privileges as E-business has.

• For instance, I’m sure you can…