Three Reasons Why You Should Know About Electronic Commerce
One of the clearest advantages of an electronic channel, represented by e-commerce websites, is the ability for the company to make contact with their end-customers without an intermediary.
It indicates the capability to recognize and treat each customer individually in a personalized way (mass customization). Many bank sites ask to their customers to specify their needs or interests; one example is a customer might be enthusiastic about financing services, others in asset management services and so on. The result is a customer "profile", which produces a corresponding profile for the commercial offer: consequently the web site reconfigures itself on the basis of the interests declared through the customer and shows only offers that will be presumed to be compatible with his needs.
Direct contact with the market also allows companies to provide better technical details about the product. This relieves sellers from having to reply to 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, websites 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.
A significant good thing about direct contact with the customer is that the company can receive real-time feedback from the market.
By studying online purchases made by customers, the website pages most frequently accessed by users or email messages sent by customers, ecommerce the company will immediately realize how the market has seen a brand new product. Also they can react with a brand new advertise campaign. The collection of this data may be used to quickly correct any errors in marketing. Instead of using the old information channels, companies should expect to have more possibilities to catch weak but worrying signals.
Through e-commerce Web pages trading operations can also 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 website, becomes immediately operational for the entire market, without spending time for you to align the sales forces to the new directives.
When it comes to 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 net. Requests on the web 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 may be represented through 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 maker.
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 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 shall keep away from it.
The Web sites, if properly dimensioned, can handle spikes of visitors without visible degradation of response times (web pages such as Microsoft or Yahoo handle several million hits a day).
The e-shops also can stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days every week, answering questions from all around the world without worry or timetables or holidays. Flexibility is additionally in terms of 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 through 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 capability to sell directly online to a wide audience of customers could generate new areas of business. It is, one example is the situation of financial information within the evolution of financial markets (stock exchanges, foreign exchange, etc.). There are actually several Internet providers who joined this business that sell quotes, financial news in real time, or offer possibilities to work online throughout the stock exchange. In general it's possible to create many information selling services, which customers are disposed to pay. Currently you may subscribe to a market research firm to be able to receive studies and research reports from their Sites. One area where new services are developing rapidly is tourism. In this area, you will find numerous Information Providers that make it possible for you to get details about tourist destinations and make reservations at hotels. As an 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 point of view.
