Economic Integration and Ecommerce

Common features of e-commerce include:

• Global reach

• Product development

• 24/7 accessibility

• Economies of scale

Disadvantages of e-commerce include:

• No need of physical company set-ups

• Customers can easily select products from different providers without moving around physically

• Any one, good or bad, can easily start a business. And there are many bad sites which eat up customers’ money

• There are many hackers who look for opportunities, and thus an ecommerce site, service, payment gateways, all are always prone to attack

Advantages of e-commerce include:

• There is no guarantee of product quality

• More reach to customers, there is no theoretical geographic limitations

• Mechanical failures can cause unpredictable effects on the total processes.

• Easy to start and manage a business

Which products may not be suitable for e-commerce?

• Automobiles

• Diamonds

• Toys

• Clothes

e-commerce business conducted directly for the end-user

• B2B

• B2C

• C2C

e-commerce conducted directly for business customers

• B2B

• B2C

• C2C

Businesses that predominantly operate online without physical stores

• E-tailers

• Retailers

• Distributors

• Agents

Multiple Answers Possible: Select all the options below that are characteristics of the Common Market stage of economic integration:

• No internal trade barriers

• Common External Tariff/CET

• Free movement of labour and capital

• Common currency and economic policies

• Political, social and cultural integration

Multiple Answers Possible: Select all the options below that are characteristics of the Custom Union stage of economic integration:

• No internal trade barriers

• Common External Tariff/CET

• Free movement of labour and capital

• Common currency and economic policies

• Political, social and cultural integration

Caricom is an example of a/an:

• Free Trade Area

• Custom Union

• Common Market

• Economic Union