Business location - OCRThe impact of the internet on location decisions

E-commerce and/or fixed premises

E-commerce is any transaction that takes place through the internet. M-commerce is any transaction that takes place using mobile technologies, for example a mobile phone app. E-commerce and m-commerce allow businesses to choose cheap locations, because there is no requirement to be located near to customers. These businesses are able to sell items online and then send them to customers using couriers. Common examples of businesses that operate online are clothing companies, designers, bloggers and influencers.

Some companies choose to have both an online business and a fixed retail premises. This is common in retail industries such as clothing shops. Many new, small businesses focus on e-commerce and m-commerce when they are starting out in order to keep their costs low.

The main benefits of e-commerce and m-commerce are:

• lower costs
• flexible working hours
• access to a much larger market of potential customers
• ability to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• relatively low-price marketing and promotion