The 101 On Electronic Commerce
One of the clearest advantages of an electronic channel, represented by e-commerce web pages, is the ability for the company to make contact with their end-customers without an intermediary.
It indicates the ability to recognize and treat each customer individually in a personalized way (mass customization). Many bank web sites ask to their customers to specify their needs or interests; by way of example, a customer could be considering financing services, others in asset management services and so forth. The result is a customer "profile", which produces a corresponding profile for the commercial offer: consequently the site reconfigures itself on the basis of the interests declared by the customer and shows only offers that can be presumed to be compatible with his needs.
Direct contact with the market also allows companies to provide better technical information about the products and services. This relieves sellers from having to answer to customer's questions and permits the product's features and functionalities to be properly presented to customers, something which was not always assured when product illustration is done click through the next page intermediaries, as a result of wholesalers and shop assistants.
Through e-commerce, sites marketing messages are presented correctly, the strengths of the products are clearly highlighted to customers and different features compared to competing products may be adequately emphasized.
An essential benefit of direct contact with the customer is the fact that the company can receive real-time feedback from the market.
By studying online purchases produced by customers, the web site pages most frequently accessed by users or e-mail messages sent by customers, the company will immediately realize how the market has seen a brand new product. They may react with a brand new advertise campaign. The collection of this data can be used to quickly correct any errors in marketing. Rather than using the old information channels, companies should anticipate to have more opportunities to catch weak but worrying signals.
Through e-commerce Web sites trading operations can also be performed more quickly and effectively.
A price change, if approved, can be seen by all at once, avoiding sales clerks or sellers mistakes. A commercial campaign, published on a web page, becomes immediately operational for the entire market, without spending time for you to align the sales forces to the new directives.
In the case of digital products, the electronic channel guarantees the immediate delivery of goods without having to produce a physical copy of the product sent to the customer. Even in the example of physical products sellers can achieve considerable benefits if you take orders using the web. Requests online arrive in real period to sales management, which alleviates the necessity for one or maybe more central warehouses, saving within the storage of goods in periphery warehouses.
An extreme effect of electronic commerce may be represented through the reorganization of the commercial sector, with the disappearance of some figures like commercial intermediaries and the restructuring of the supply chain upstream from the manufacturer.
A computer company that receives orders from customers only by an e-commerce website could conveniently get replenishment orders of computer components to its suppliers and taking delivery of what is only required to meet its commitments to customers. This would generate a very efficient supply chain by reducing inventory and work-in-process.
A digital commercial network allows for greater flexibility with respect to a physical network. A crowded shop can not attract other customers, whom shall keep away from it.
The Web sites, if properly dimensioned, can handle spikes of visitors without visible degradation of response times (websites for example Microsoft or Yahoo handle several million hits a day).
The e-shops can also stay open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, answering questions from all around the world without worry or timetables or holidays. Flexibility can also be with regards to capability to respond to marketplace. Using information gathered in real time through its websites, the company can modify its proposals, promoting products which have difficulties, making more attractive deals if users indicate weakness in respect to competition. In comparison to a conventional commercial network by which the company proposes more products than the market's demand, for e-commerce it's the opposite. The market "pulls" and also the company follows, trying to stimulate demand, but only from the inclinations observed within the market.
The e-commerce also brings new business opportunities
The ability to sell directly online to a wide audience of customers could possibly generate new areas of business. It's, by way of example, the situation of financial information within the evolution of financial markets (stock exchanges, foreign exchange, etc.). You'll find several Internet providers who joined this business that sell quotes, financial news in real time, or offer possibilities to work online over the stock exchange. In general it's possible to develop many information selling services, which customers are disposed to pay. Currently you can subscribe to a market research firm as a way to receive studies and research reports from their Sites. One area where new services are developing rapidly is tourism. Inside this area, you'll find numerous Information Providers that permit you to get information about tourist destinations and make reservations at hotels. One example is the subsector for skiing holidays is developing a really strong competition over the internet between French regions, Swiss cantons and Italian valleys, with very interesting opportunities from tourist viewpoint.
