Page 240 - Business Principles and Management

Chapter 9 • E-Commerce

to prospective customers. Some products and
services are easier to sell over the Internet than
others. Study the sites of similar businesses and
talk to experts in e-commerce to determine
whether to use the Internet for a limited set of
business activities at first and progress gradu-
ally toward full integration, or limit the goals
for your site to the informational or inter-
active stage.

STUDY YOUR CUSTOMERS
To develop an online business that your cus-
tomers will use, you must first know who
your customers are, what they want, and their PHOTO: © GETTY IMAGES/PHOTODISC.
interest in doing business online. You will
want to know their experience with e-commerce
and whether they use the Internet primarily for
information or for shopping. What products
do they typically buy online, and which are
they more likely to buy from a bricks-and-
mortar business? The ages of prospective
customers are important as well. Younger consumers are often more com- What are some reasons
fortable using computers, whereas older shoppers may be reluctant to purchase consumers might be loyal
online. You need to understand your customers in order to design a Web site to particular e-commerce
that is inviting to them and gives them confidence to purchase from your businesses?
business.
A growing phenomenon on the Internet is the use of social networking sites
such as Classmates.com and MySpace. These sites are virtual communities for
people interested in sharing information about themselves with others. The sites
were expected to earn more than $350 million in advertising revenue worldwide
in 2006.

PLAN YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS
Based on your study, you will determine what products and services to offer
through your online business and whether you will have an information-only,
interactive, or integrated Web site. If your entire business is not going to be
online, you must determine where and how the bricks-and-mortar part of your
business will operate.
Another decision is whether you will handle all activities yourself or use
other businesses to handle some of them. For example, most e-commerce
businesses use shipping companies such as FedEx or UPS to ship their mer-
chandise. Others use banks or other financial institutions to process credit
card transactions and collect payment from customers.

CHECKPOINT

Describe the three main tasks of e-commerce business planning.

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