For companies that produce goods or services, electronic commerce, through the creation of e-commerce websites, represents an opportunity to develop a new sales channel. This has already happened in the past thanks to the combination of Printworxx opportunities offered by technology and organizational solutions based on the availability of the sales force and money.
This new electronic channel has two exclusive features in respect to the previous channel:
a) It is global, and can reach potential customers who are anywhere in the world.
b) It has relatively low development costs and it is therefore also accessible to smaller businesses.
E-commerce is global
Electronic commerce means that the company should start to think in terms of global trade policies. The prices on web sites and promotional offers are visible on the web to customers in each country.
If this kind of globalization becomes too frightening, it is possible to fall back on Web sites dedicated to specific markets, in local languages, but a skilled customer would notice any differences in the offers on the different websites online.
E-commerce Web sites are an opportunity for SMEs
It must be underlined that this new adverting channel has lower costs than existing ones, and especially it is able to cope with growing volumes of contacts without the need to increase advertising spaces or staff.
The low cost investment required to develop this channel is a great opportunity for the small to medium sized companies to compete with bigger ones. To enter in the business market you don’t need to have vendors, branches or shops, except what is strictly necessary to maintain physical contact with customers. The development of electronic commerce will eliminate protective barriers represented in the past by geographical distance.
E-commerce enhances the business intelligence
If the products are either digital or easily transportable (ie, parcels, or packages), it will be almost irrelevant to buy them from your country or a distant country dealer. In fact these products can be sent easily real-time via the network, in the case of digital products, or within a few hours via shipping companies in the case of physical products.
The dismantling of these barriers will emphasize the importance of business intelligence and creativity in promoting their own products and services. Since we can easily buy English books in discounted international websites, why should we waste time to sort through a library locally, where they cost more and not be available until much later.