E-Commerce Hardly Any Business Nowadays Will Survive

E-Commerce

Hardly any business nowadays will survive without presence in cyberspace. Aside from the requisite website that provides information on the company, most have engaged in electronic commerce or e-commerce whereby goods and services can be transacted (ordering, processing, billing, payment, shipping, etc.) online. For small to medium business enterprises developing an e-commerce website may start out small and gradually develop with more facilities and functionalities. A bike store for instance in the local neighborhood has for its target market a limited geographical area thus the e-commerce website can cater first to the local market. But even if the business is small or starting-up, "developing a business over the Internet requires many of the same major activities as starting any other business and the basic business planning are still needed (McNamara, 2009)."

The initial Internet business model for a local neighborhood bike store is an informational website that features what the store and the company is providing (About Us) in terms of both goods (i.e. bikes, parts, accessories) and services (i.e. custom building, repair, installation, maintenance). This can comprise of a few web pages but critical amongst these is the "sales catalogue containing photographs (and prices) of its products and services. By putting the material online, the company saved a great deal of time and money: it no longer had to send out a new catalogue every time there was a change in product line or price. (Andrews & Nast, 2000)" Thus, initial sales and marketing can be done and if customers are interested in particular items or services, they can go to the Comments or Dialogue web page to make inquiries or place an order. The Comments or Dialogue web page is linked to an email account of the business owner where responses can be provided to the customers.

Since the business is only starting-up, financial electronic transactions can be foregone at a later date when business is picking up or the website can avail of the services of third-party financial transaction providers such as PayPal to facilitate online payments. These service providers will assist eve the small business in setting up secure electronic financial transactions at varying costs depending on the needs and requirements of the business.

An e-commerce venture, to be successful, needs marketing, design, development, accounting, and operational expertise (Roggio, 2010). Consequently, a lot of planning and preparation should be done to derive maximum benefits. The key benefit that the business can derive from having an online presence is the global reach and bigger target market. Although the market of the business may be the local neighborhood at first, the bike store may offer specialized goods or services that others do not have. This will then ensure additional business outside of the target market area. In addition, several functionalities can be added such as links to bike parts suppliers and there are even suppliers that pay for the advertising links thereby generating additional income for the bike store. There can also be links to bicycling blogs and forums in order for customers to have additional insights prior to making purchases or availing of services. But the key to any e-commerce website is simplicity, functionality and user experience. If these are not taken into consideration especially if the website takes several seconds to load, then the user or surfer will get frustrated and simply go to another site providing better and faster user access.

In terms of hardware and software requirements, it is always better to acquire the services of professional web developers and designers. There are several of them available and the cost is very competitive. It is important though that prices and output comparisons are made to get the best deal. Aside from the hardware and software requirements, a fast Internet connection should be available so that customers visiting the website can readily access it.