Digital Commerce vs eCommerce – What’s the Difference?

Despite electronic commerce being on the special rise after the pandemic, many business and marketing experts agree that now we are entering the era of digital commerce which is a new step in eCommerce evolution. However, the concepts of electronic commerce and digital commerce are often mixed up so let’s draw a clear line between them and discover how to prepare your business for the upcoming changes and challenges. 

eBusiness vs Digital Commerce vs eCommerce

The concepts of electronic business (eBusiness), digital commerce (D-commerce), and eCommerce have a lot in common and overlap greatly. Let’s define them one by one to find out the difference between eCommerce and eBusiness, and discover the place of digital commerce among them. 

eBusiness Definition

Any money-making activity on the web can be called electronic business. Scientific resources define eBusiness as a certain business model that implies using information technology tools to make a profit. Electronic business covers all the possible activities on the web aimed at money-making, including but not limited to selling products and services online, running a crypto business, or creating an income from blogging. 

What Is eCommerce?

Electronic commerce, in turn, is the process of selling products and services online, using a trading platform as the main interaction point and electronic transactions as one of the possible payment methods. eCommerce is a more narrow concept, compared to electronic business. 

What Is the Digital Commerce?

Digital commerce, in turn, is the next step in eCommerce evolution. While eCommerce refers only to the process of selling and buying online, digital commerce is more about delivering customer experience using the whole set of digital tools. Digital commerce is customer-centric and experience-centric, aimed at creating holistic impressions and experiences across multiple marketing channels.

Leveraging Big Data is the only opportunity to create the highest-end digital commerce experience, stand out from the competition and have a growing pool of loyal customers. That’s why the businesses driven by this goal use multiple technologies, tools, and apps integrated and exchanging data with each other. 

The Technology Behind Digital Commerce

Below are the main tools and apps modern businesses use to deliver an outstanding digital commerce experience, boosting their revenues, supporting loyalty, and staying sustainable at once. 

1. Content Management System. A content management system or CMS is the main tool for website content storage and delivery. There are a lot of both simple and more advanced content management systems, however, their embedded features directly influence the experience you can create with their help. For example, running your eCommerce store on the top of Magento allows for connecting to the Adobe Experience Platform. The latter will help to leverage customer data, including but not limited to their purchasing history and behavior patterns to deliver even more personalized shopping experiences. 
2. Customer Relationship Management System. A CRM is another advanced tool for managing relations with the customers, getting started from their first touchpoint with the brand. SalesForce is one of the most advanced and sophisticated CRM systems that connects marketing, commerce, sales, customer service, and IT processes under the roof of a single solution. 
3. Supply Chain Optimization System. Using a supply chain optimization system is essential for businesses eager to cut costs at a better delivery speed, staying sustainable and eco-aware. 
4. Marketing Automation Solutions. Using digital marketing solutions, and most importantly, the ones that allow for marketing data gathering, analysis, and campaign automation is a must for the businesses striving to deliver top-notch digital experience. The set of such solutions includes but isn’t limited to email marketing automation, social media management, PPC campaigns analytics, lead generation tools, and much more. 
5. AI-Powered Fraud Prevention Apps. The sphere of electronic commerce is directly interconnected with online banking. while secured payment opportunities are one of the pillars of an outstanding digital commerce experience. That’s why modern businesses heavily opt for AI-powered fraud detection and prevention tools that allow for storing customer financial data in a more secure way and detecting potentially fraudulent transactions. 
6. Customer Behavior Analysis Tools. Customer behavior patterns are changing frequently under the pressure of evolving trends. For example, Gen X customers (Millenials) are more likely to buy an environmentally-friendly product for a higher price even if there is a cheaper analog. Unlocking customer insights with the help of Big Data analytics becomes essential for the eCommerce businesses driven by the goal to foresee customers’ needs, meet their expectations, and deliver an omnichannel digital experience. 
7. Price Optimization Software. While the product’s price isn’t the only decisive factor for the modern customers, keeping it at the reasonable and expected level is important, in addition to the other digital customer experience perks your store can offer. Using AI-powered price optimization software makes sense for staying updated on changing market trends, and quickly adjusting the price of your products being guided by historical and current data. 
8. Virtual and Augmented Reality Software. Using virtual and augmented reality technologies is an emerging trend leading eCommerce businesses to begin to follow. For example, Ikea has an augmented reality app that allows for fitting a certain furniture item into the interior of the user. H&M offers an application for virtual try-on. VR and AR software is projected to evolve, revolutionizing the eCommerce experience so getting started with it now makes a lot of sense. 
9. AI Chatbots and Voice-Powered Virtual Assistants. These are the tools that modern customers are already used to. Smart chatbots and virtual assistants, especially voice-powered ones, have already become an integral part of the digital commerce experience. They are also great at gathering customer data, spotting their behavior patterns, and suggesting deeper personalized offers. 

How to Get Ready for a New Era in Digital Commerce? 

So, eCommerce is evolving and transforming into digital commerce. While this process will not be instant, getting ready for it now makes a lot of sense for building a future-proof eCommerce business. Below are getting-started tips for the eCommerce companies eager to join the digital commerce race. 

Find out where you are now

As always, any strategic change begins with analyzing the current point. So, get started with business analysis, taking a deeper look at the current state of your business and the market, re-analyzing your customers’ preferences and expectations, and discovering the number of resources you can invest in changing your business digitally. 

Define the weak points of your eCommerce business and fix them

In 2020, one-third of US small businesses hadn’t a website. This is the simplest but still the clearest example of what your eCommerce business may lack to successfully deliver the digital commerce experience modern customers would like to have. So, define the weal points of your eCommerce business, and get started with fixing them step by step. 

Get started with digital transformation

Digital transformation isn’t an ongoing process that implies integrating multiple tools and solutions we have overviewed above. At this stage, partnering with a tech vendor makes the most sense in the long run. Their technical expertise along with the opportunity to instantly hire the necessary tech talent would be strong support along your digital transformation path.

Conclusion

Digital commerce is here to replace the electronic one. While the latter stands for the simple exchange of goods and services for money, digital commerce covers all the activities related to driving customer experience and growing the profit as the result. Leveraging the power of technologies is the only way to transform your eCommerce business into a digital commerce one. Get in touch with us now to make things happen!