Importance of Using Electronic Commerce to Reduce Costs: An Applied Study at Zebrano for Office Furniture and Equipment

Abstract

The current research aims at highlighting e-commerce and its importance and how it contributes to reducing both expired and non-expired costs in Zebrano Furniture Company (a registered company operating in Kurdistan Region-Iraq), and to what extent the company's management is aware of using e-commerce tools to reduce its costs. The deductive analytical approach was adopted. The data and information included in the financial statements and the research community were collected from the main headquarter of Zebrano Furniture Company in Erbil as well as its branches in Sulaymaniyah, Baghdad and Basra. The researchers have reached a number of conclusions: various profit-seeking economic units aim at reducing costs as this reduction contributes to achieving its objectives and maintaining its position in the market through the optimal use of available resources and methods based on scientific and sound strategic planning. Furthermore, such reduction may lead to getting benefit from the savings that can be made by eliminating the non-expired costs and exploiting these costs in another investment area. The study also showed that many costs may minimize profits. It was found that in the case of dispensing with the three branches of the company and using e-commerce, as it is the case with Duhok Province, some costs such as (salaries as well as goods and services inputs) may be dispensed with, and consequently achieving more profits than before.