Regarding The Subject Of Internet Commerce
One of the clearest advantages of an electronic channel, represented by e-commerce web pages, is the ability for the company to get in contact with their end-customers without an intermediary.
Therefore 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; one example is a customer may 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 web page reconfigures itself on the foundation of the interests declared through the customer and shows only offers that are presumed to be compatible with his needs.
Direct contact with the market also allows companies to provide better technical information about the products or 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 through 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 when compared with competing products may be adequately emphasized.
A vital advantage of direct contact with the customer is that the company can receive real-time feedback from the market.
By studying online purchases created by customers, the website pages most frequently accessed by users or email messages sent by customers, the company will immediately realize how the market has seen a new product. They can react with a new advertise campaign. The collection of these facts can be used to quickly correct any errors in marketing. In place of using the old information channels, companies should anticipate to have more possibilities to catch weak but worrying signals.
Through e-commerce Sites trading operations also can be performed more quickly and effectively.
A price change, if approved, may 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 whole market, without spending time to align the sales forces to the new directives.
In the matter of digital products, the electronic channel guarantees the immediate delivery of goods with no need to produce a physical copy of the product sent to the customer. Even in the matter of physical products sellers can achieve considerable benefits if you take orders using the visit web site. Requests via the internet arrive in real period to sales management, which alleviates the need for one or more central warehouses, saving in the storage of goods in periphery warehouses.
An extreme effect of electronic commerce can be represented by the reorganization of the commercial sector, with the disappearance of some figures like commercial intermediaries and also the restructuring of the supply chain upstream from the manufacturing company.
A computer company that receives orders from customers only by an e-commerce website could effortlessly get replenishment orders of computer components to its suppliers and taking delivery of what is only necessary to meet its commitments to customers. This would generate an extremely 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, who will keep away from it.
The Web sites, if properly dimensioned, can handle spikes of visitors without visible degradation of response times (web pages for example Microsoft or Yahoo handle several million hits a day).
The e-shops could also stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, answering questions from all over 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 sites, the company can modify its proposals, promoting products that have difficulties, making more attractive deals if users indicate weakness in respect to competition. In comparison to a conventional commercial network in 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 quite possibly generate new areas of business. It's, for example, the case of financial information in the evolution of financial markets (stock exchanges, foreign exchange, etc.). You will discover several Internet providers who joined this business that sell quotes, financial news in real time, or offer possibilities to work online through the stock exchange. In general it's possible to create many information selling services, which customers are disposed to pay. Currently you can subscribe to a market research firm in order to receive studies and research reports from their Web sites. One area where new services are developing rapidly is tourism. In this area, you can find numerous Information Providers that make it possible for you to get information regarding tourist destinations and make reservations at hotels. By way of example, the subsector for skiing holidays is developing a very strong competition on the web between French regions, Swiss cantons and Italian valleys, with very interesting opportunities from tourist perspective.
