What is E-Commerce ?

Urgent question

The global network is bringing fundamental changes to the business world. "How can we utilize the modern information technology to ease, organize, benefit, speed and expand our business activities?" This is an urgent question that all manufacturers and companies are asking themselves and their consultants today.

Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) is doing business online, including both business-to-business and business-to-consumer activities. 

First & second phases of e-commerce

Online retailing and wholesale, customer service, financial transactions, supply chain management etc. These are the first phase of web-based e-commerce activities that many companies are conducting today. 

However the real challenge will be the second phase, the future vision of e-commerce :  A networked business-world.  To create fully integrated enterprises, to coordinate moment-by-moment business operations; all partners, influencers, employees and customers interoperate in a flexible, interdependent, extended enterprise circumstance.. From internet (business-customers), intranet (business-to-business, inside the enterprise) to extranet (business-to-business, network with global resellers and suppliers).

This is a fantastic but also realistic picture of  how business will be conducted in the 21st century.

$ 3 billion budget in year 2000

The computing giant companies like IBM and Microsoft are predicting that the rapid growth of e-commerce software market will be a projected $3 billion in year 2000. 

The global network is continually expanding, the online transaction security technology is mature, the investment is relatively not heavy . . . Why not go for it ?

Many large enterprises can easily see the needs and benefits of establishing their own e-commerce network. 

How about the small business? 

There are some exciting stories that the  e-commerce has  turned a small local business into a nationwide compatible enterprise. The prospect of breaking the area barrier and reaching large numbers of global customers, driving small & middle-size business's to go for it too

Surveys from >1000 business managers

The Planet IT / InternetWeek recently conducted surveys to 305 top-level  IT executives and 706 department managers. These thousand managers representing a broad cross section of companies, half of them have more than 1,000 employees, while 28% of them with less than 499 workers.

These decision-makers of large, mid-size and small business's have given strong evidences of the impacts of internet / e-commerce on most types of enterprises.     86% of them are operating e-commerce network, either a public web site, intranet or extranet. 12% of them plan to launch a web site or intranet in the next year.That means very soon about 98% business will be involved in the e-commerce activities.

Have they really  gained some benefits from the kind of activities? 

62%  of them agree that the internet has transformed how their organization operates. 

77% of them say that the internet technologies enable more seamless relationship with their customers. Consumer relationship are improved.

They think the web is becoming a significant competitive weapon.

It improves the internal business process, the relationship of business partners and employees Also brought cost saving (mainly from reduced marketing and sales expenses), increased productivity and increased sale.

63% say their web projects already paid back through those benefits. 35% expect the pay back will occur in the next year, and the others expect in next two years..

$300 billion e-commerce by year 2002

According the research from Forester Institute, the exchange of money across the internet is    £ 8 billion in 1997. It will reach a skyrocketing figure, a projected $327 billion by the year 2002.

As Holt's Lord, the CEO of Holt Outlet enterprise (the successful story of this toy store see "Intelligent Toys" in this issue) said: "In the next three years,every single business in America will be on the internet and fighting . . .You better have the technology and the business model in place, that will let you compete." 

No doubt, the e-commerce (someone call it "e-business", "Internet commerce", whatever . . .) will exploring !tec2.jpg (14019 bytes)