Internal Audit

E-Commerce Audit Procedures

It is the independent review of the records and how they are used to conduct business transactions. The study includes knowing the procedures relating to data privacy policies of the companies, customer privacy, business procedures, etc. It refers to the selling and buying of services in an online world. E-commerce channels, like an established selling website like Amazon or social media, can also be used. It also refers to transferring funds or data over the electronic network.

Types of E-Commerce

Mainly, there are three types of e-commerce. These are defined below:-

Business-to-business-

Websites like Shopify, etc

Business-to-Consumer-

These are the apps or websites that deliver products to consumers directly. Examples include Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra Nykaa, Etc.

Consumer-to-Consumer-

Websites like e-bay etc

Types of E-Commerce Audits

 There are 5 types of audits in e-commerce they are-

1. SEO audits
2. Platform audit
3. Content audit
4. UX audit
5. CRO audit

Platform Audit

While choosing a platform website, it must be ensured that it aligns with your needs. If there is a downward trend in either sales or website visitors, it’s a sign that you need to migrate. Moreover, sometimes one might be paying for a number of features than one needs, this is a very common issue with start-ups or relying on some old technology. The auditors should take into account the business size and structure while offering suggestions. They help you find your go-to shop within budget, which takes care of everything else, from promotion or branding to content marketing.

SEO Audit

No one will take the pain of finding your website if it is hidden deep inside the Google search. In this, a team of experts helps assess the must-have elements, including the content layout and promotional techniques, and boost the ranking of your website so that the public can have easy access.

SEO audits ask certain things like- How the products are managed or handled, whether the images of the product are high quality or not, and what the internal linking structure is.

Content Audit

It means that everyone does not possess writing skills. A lot of good entrepreneurs lack writing skills. These auditors help to build keywords and make the writing or content effective, owing more like an editor to proofread the work and edit the same. The proper communication relating to the brand value, etc.

UX Audit

The excellent UX builds the customers so that they stick to the company or brand. It helps to streamline the experiences of the customers. It checks how the service pages are organized. Are users able to recover from the errors? If the websites are accessible or not.

CRO Audit

The end goal here is to transform the e-commerce platforms into a dream shopping experience because there is absolutely no use in creating or posting high-quality pictures when the public does not want to buy your product or services in the first place.

Requirement of Auditing in the E-Commerce Business

Audit checks in this business are important to ensure the business is conducted properly. It helps us identify the risks involved while conducting business and the vulnerabilities that might lead to business loss. Auditing helps to ensure that the business complies with all the prevailing rules and laws of the country. By conducting the auditing timely, we can also identify the areas to be improved. It provides reviews of the business’s processes.

Prerequisites for Calculating Audits

The prerequisites are the analysis of the financial reports. Understanding the organization’s internal control mechanisms. The process begins with the risk assessment.

Using Case with Audit

For example, a clothing brand needs to perform a quarterly audit to review the company’s financial statements, internal controls, and related documents. When setting up the business, the same brand conducts an audit to check if the company’s accounting practices align with the normally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These periodical audits help assess the risk of the company’s operations.

E-Commerce SEO

E-commerce SEO ensures that your e-commerce site is visible to every search engine and ranks extremely high for its targeted keywords. In this way, it is not much different from SEO for different sites.

What is excluded in an E-Commerce SEO Audit?

There are certain areas it leaves out. For example, it is mostly very narrow in the sense that it focuses on your e-commerce website itself. The broader analysis of the original competitors or general keyword research is not part of the SEO audit. The main aim is to make sure that the site does not have any bottlenecks or outfront errors.

Laws Governing the E-Commerce in India

The Information Technology Act, 2000

 Section 84A casts a duty upon the Central Govt. for the promotion of e-commerce. The data protection provisions are given under  Section 43A of the IT Act.

Consumer Protection Act, 2019 

The CPA introduced changes to the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 to address unique issues in this area of digitization. The rules of e-commerce pro

The E-Commerce Rules provide a framework to regulate the marketing, sale and purchase of goods and services online.

Foreign Exchange Management Rules, 2019

The e-commerce platforms/ entities with the FDI are regulated by the Non-debt instrument rules of 2019.

Conclusion

As we have seen above, the e-commerce sector audit is extremely important to regulate the business smoothly. The online platform is a place where it is very easy to break the norm and get your brand or company famous within seconds, but it comes with many risks. In order to minimize these risks, proper audit checks are very crucial. There are a lot of already existing mechanisms to do the audits, but they can be further increased to boost the effectiveness of e-commerce by doing more research and using AI tools.

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