Final e.commerce . 2

CHAPTER NO. 7:

E-COMMERCE(ELECTRONIC COMMERCE)

E-COMMERCE

The internet remains a place where you can start with nothing and soon challenge the heights.Googal.com

Hotmail.com

Yahoo.com

Utube.com

Face book.

-Mark DiMassimo

1. The opportunity to increase revenues

2. The ability to expand their reach into global

markets

3. The ability to remain open 24 hours a day, seven

days a week

4. The capacity to use the Web’s interactive nature to

enhance customer service

5. The power to educate and to inform

6. The ability to lower the cost of doing business

7. The ability to spot new business opportunities and

to capitalize on them

8. The power to track sales results

How a company exploits the web’s interconnectivity and the opportunities it creates to transform relationships with its suppliers and vendors, its customers, and other external stakeholders is crucial to its success.

Web success requires a company to develop a plan for integrating the web into its overall strategy.

Developing deep, lasting relationships with customerstakes on even greater importance on the web.

Creating a meaningful presence on the web requires an ongoing investment of resources-time, money, energy, and talent

Measuring the success of its web-based sales effort is essential if a company is to remain relevant to customers whose tastes, needs, and preferences are always changing.

What exactly do you expect a web site to do for your company?

How much can you afford to invest in an e-commerce effort?What rate of return do you expect to earn on that

investment?How long can you afford to wait for that return?How well suitable are your products and services for selling

on the web? How will the “back office” of your web site work?How will you handle order fulfillment?

TWELVE MYTHS OF E-COMMERCE

1. Setting up a business on the web is easy and inexpensiveEstablishing a true transactional Web site will require severalmonths and an investment ranging from $10,000 up to nearly $1million.

2. If I launch a site, customers will flock to it

3. Making money on the web is easyOne study by management consultant firm found that Webretailers invest 65% of their revenues in marketing andadvertising, compared to their off-line counterparts, who investjust 4%...

4. Privacy is not an important issue on the web

5. The most important part of any e-commerce effort is technology

6. “Strategy? I don’t need a strategy to sell on the web! Just give me a web site, and the rest will take care of itself”

TWELVE MYTHS

E-COMMERCE

7 On the web, customer service is not as important as it is in a traditional retail store

8 Flash makes a web site better (Don’t make the sites much flashy. Keep the design of your site simple.)

9 It’s what’s up front that counts

10 E-commerce will cause brick-and-mortar retail stores to disappear

11 The greatest opportunities for e-commerce ,lie in the retail store

12 It’s too late to get on the webE-commerce is still in its infancy. Companies are still figuring out how to succeed on the Web, and also learning that which technique will work.

BASIC STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING SUCCESS

IN E-COMMERCE EFFORTS:

Focus on a niche in the market:

A niche can be defined in many ways includingby geography, by customer profile, by product,by product usage and many others.

Attract visitors by giving away “freebies”:

One e-commerce consultant calls the cycle ofgiving something away and then sellingsomething “the rhythm of the Web”

The freebie must something customer value, butit does not have to be much expensive.

In fact, one of the most common giveaways onthe Web is Information.

Make creative use of e-mail but avoid becoming a“spammer”:

Supported by online newsletters or chat-rooms, customerswelcome well constructed permission e-mail that directsthem to a company’s site for information or special deals.

Make sure your Web site says “credibility”:

Use known and trusted brand names to build credibility.

Promote your Web site online and offline

Consider forming strategic alliances with larger, moreestablished companies and not-for-profit organization.

Develop a community of online customers: E-mail lists , chat rooms, customer polls, guest books and

message boards are powerful tools for building a community ofcustomers.

Make the most of the Web’s global reach.

DESIGNING A KILLER WEB SITE

Understanding Your Target Customer

Give Customers What They Want

Select an Intuitive Domain Name ( Ideal domain name should be

short, memorable, indicative of a company’s business and easy to spell.)

Make Your Web Site Easy to Navigate

Create a Gift Idea Center

Build Loyalty by Giving Online Customers a Reason to Return to Your Web Site (Establish an incentive program)

Establish Hyperlinks with Other Businesses, Preferably Those Selling Products or Services That Complement Yours

Include an E-mail Option and a Telephone Number in Your Site

Give Shoppers the Ability to Track Their Orders Online ( Send order

confirmation e-mail & Send e-mail notification, when shipment

is made. )

Offer Web Shoppers a Special All Their Own. ( Regular special offers

available on the Web attract customers’ intention.)

Follow a Simple Design

Create fast, simple checkout process

Assure customers that their online transactions are secure

Post shipping and handling charges up front

Confirm transactions

Keep your site updated

Test your site often

Consider hiring a professional to design your site

ENSURING WEB PRIVACY AND

SECURITY

Privacy Take the inventory of the customer data

collected

Develop a company privacy policy for the

information you collect

Post your company’s privacy policy

prominently on your web site and follow it

Security Virus deduction software

interruption deduction software

firewall

According to Pew Internet & American Life Project, 86%

of Internet users say that they worry about online privacy.

To make sure privacy of customers, companies should take

following steps:

FIVE BASICAPPROACHES TO LAUNCH AN

E-COMMERCE EFFORT:

Generally, Web experts identify three basic pricing

categories for creating a Web site: less than $10,000;

between $10,000 and $30,000; and more than $30,000.

Online shopping malls: Under $10,000 category

To join, simply provide description and photographs of the

product they sell

It’s disadvantage is the lack of prominence and control on site

Storefront-building services: Under $10,000 category

Help entrepreneur to create online shops

Charges are from $100 to$500 per month

FIVE BASICAPPROACHES TO LAUNCH AN

E-COMMERCE EFFORT:(CONTINUED)

Internet service providers (ISPs):

Under $10,000 category

ISPs offer more design flexibility and the ability to

customize their Web sites

Hiring professionals to design a custom site:

Between $10,000-$30,000

Professionals are hired for designing the Web sites

Building a site in house:

It costs from $250,000 to $500,000

Lesser use of this approach because of high cost

'BRICK AND MORTAR'

A traditional "street-side" business that deals with its

customers face to face in an office or store that the

business owns or rents. The local grocery store and the

corner bank are examples of "brick and mortar"

companies. Brick and mortar businesses can find it

difficult to compete with web-based businesses because

the latter usually have lower operating costs and greater

flexibility.

'CLICK AND MORTAR'

A type of business model that includes both online and

offline operations, which typically include a website

and a physical store. A click-and-mortar company can

offer customers the benefits of fast online transactions

or traditional face-to-face service.