LEGAL CHALLENGES IN E-COMMERCE: REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND BUSINESS STRATEGIES

E-commerce has become a cornerstone of modern retail and services, compressing distance, expanding product choice, and reshaping competitive landscapes. However, the same technological features that enable growth also generate compliance and governance challenges for firms and regulators. This study investigates how legal awareness, perceived clarity of rules, compliance challenges, and local regulatory impacts shape operational outcomes in Indian e-commerce. Using a mixed evidence base—100 survey responses and transactional data covering 500 orders and 1,500 line items—the research applies descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, Spearman correlations, and ANOVA to examine associations between legal context and commercial performance. Results reveal that higher legal awareness is correlated with fewer compliance difficulties and greater rule clarity, while perceived regulatory intensity elevates the importance of compliance costs. Firms experiencing disputes demonstrate stronger audit regularity, suggesting adaptive governance in response to challenges. Operationally, profitability and target fulfilment differ significantly across categories, with Electronics outperforming Furniture in margins and Clothing underperforming on targets. The findings highlight the dual role of compliance as both a regulatory necessity and a managerial capability, underscoring the importance of awareness campaigns, cost-sensitive regulatory design, and digital compliance tools for sustainable e-commerce growth.