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26 Nov 2000, India

Dear Dr. Ecommerce:

Sir, I would appreciate if you would answer the following questions :

1. How has e-commerce changed our life and the life of an employee
2. Do you think e-commerce is beneficial in our day-to-day life.

Thanks,

Kishore

Dear Kishore:

That's not an easy question and it varies a great deal from country to country and even within countries. Unfortunately, e-commerce has probably benefited the wealthy more than the not-so-wealthy.

I don't know enough about the situation in India, to know to what extent it has change the lives of Indians, although it has certainly provided work for software programmers in Bangalore!

In general, e-commerce has provided consumers around the world with a wider choice of products. Americans can now buy Indian products directly from India and Indians can buy American products directly from America - something that was much more difficult a few years ago. Of course it has also made shopping more convenient for many people.

E-Commerce has provided companies with an opportunity to reach a larger market. In the past, an Indian export company would have had to advertise in all kinds of export journals, attend trade fairs and otherwise spend money to make themselves known globally. Now they can do this with a web site at lower cost. At the same time, companies can search the web for potential customers and suppliers, participate in on-line marketplaces and join on-line discussion forums related to international trade.

I think most employees have benefited more from new technologies in general, rather than specifically e-commerce. Technology can take care of mundane tasks, thus allowing employees to focus on more challenging, value-added tasks.

However, this has largely happened in wealthier countries where the cost of labour is very high. In countries where the cost of labour is low, there is little financial reason to computerise processes that people can do at lesser cost.

I expect for most of the world, it will be a few years before e-commerce benefits ordinary people in their day to day lives. But, I think the day that everyone is affected is not far away.

Good luck,

Dr. Ecommerce