E-commerce edited by: manav sahu & Dr. Jitendra kumar sahu ( pmec & Research Scholar: Berhampur University & Professor,hod mech. Dept, smit chandipadar ) Introduction

 
Limitations of E-Commerce 
Electronic commerce is also characterized by some technological and inherent limitations 
which have restricted the number of people using this revolutionary system. One important 
disadvantage of e
‐
commerce is that the Internet has still not touched the lives of a great number of 
people, either due to lack of knowledge or trust. A large number of people do not use the Internet for 
any kind of financial transaction. 
Another limitation of e
‐
commerce is that it is not suitable for perishable commodities like food 
items. People prefer to ship in the conventional way than to use e
‐
commerce for purchasing food products. 
So e
‐
commerce is not suitable for such business sectors. The time period required for delivering physical 
products can also be quite significant in case of e
‐
commerce. A lot of phone calls and e
‐
mails may be 
required till you get your desired products. However returning a product and getting a refund can be more 
troublesome and time consuming than purchasing, in case if you are not satisfied with a particular product. 
Some of the other limitations are:
‐ 

Credit card security is a serious issue if vulnerable 

Costs involved with bandwidth and other computer and server costs 

Extensive database and technical knowledge and experience required 

Customer apprehension about online Credit Card orders 

Constantly changing technology may leave slow business behind 

Some customers need instant gratification, and shipment times interrupt that 

Search utilities far surpasses the speed used to find products through catalogs 

Encourages competition between small and large online retailers 
There was much publicity of Internet and E-Commerce over the last few years. But this type of commerce 
is not free from defects. These again will be dealt with according to the three major stakeholders - 
organisations, consumer and society.