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E-COMMERCE...
Approximately 790 million people worldwide have access to the World Wide Web. Through the combination of interactivity, networking, multimedia and data processing, Internet electronic commerce offers a tremendously wide variety of electronic business opportunities, limited only by imagination.
Electronic commerce can be defined loosely as doing business electronically. The process of E-commerce via the Internet replaces or enhances the exchange of money and products with the exchange of information from one computer to another. Market researchers at International Data Corporation predict that the amount of overall E-commerce will top $1 trillion by 2003.
Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) E-commerce via the Internet is developing rapidly. Within just a few years, the Internet has been transformed from a toy used by a few computer nerds to a broad communications and trade centre where more than 90 million people exchange information or close deals around the world.
B2B on the Internet, also known as e-biz, is the exchange of products, services, or information between businesses rather than between businesses and consumers. Although early interest centred on the growth of retailing on the Internet, forecasts are that B2B revenue will far exceed business-to-consumers (B2C) revenue in the near future.
The essential elements of successful E-commerce website are:
- You must have a desirable product or service to offer
- You must have a place to sell the product
- You need customers
- You need a method of accepting orders
- You need a method of accepting payment
- You need a way to accept returns
On one level, E-commerce is just another form of traditional commerce. On another level, it is a vehicle we can use to develop new and exiting business models. Exploiting E-commerce requires:
- Imagination
- Creativity
- Business acumen
Before undertaking the E-commerce approach, an organisation must consider a few important factors. An organisation should avoid the "me-too" approach (i.e. don't do it because everyone else is). A feasibility study should be undertaken to determine whether the product(s) in question are suitable for on-line retail. Finally, an organisation should consider whether or not its customers are ready to buy on-line!
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Website by Luke Wallwin 2006
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