in recent years many brick-and-mortar companies and new
start-ups ask themselves: To Be Online or Not to Be Online?
Not long time ago, I read a comment of a well-known industry
observer, where he stated that companies that are not selling
through Internet by 2007 will probably become extinct. As
dramatic as it might feel, although exaggerated, but there are
some truths in it.
Consider this: Although diminishing due to bad economy, average
growth of e-commerce is around 25 % per year. 81% of small
businesses that have an online presence during last year's
holiday season reached new customers, leading to an increase in
sales and profitability according to a survey conducted by
Harris Interactive. Thirty percent of small businesses with a
web presence and fewer than 20 employees now generate more than
25% of their revenue online claims Gartner research.
If this does not convince you to take your business online,
below I pointed out 10 more reasons why you should start doing
business online right now.
1. New economy Internet has created a new economy, which by its
explosive growth and sheer size already changed our perception
of traditional way of doing business. Companies like Amazon and
Ebay have successfully created domination on areas, where just
few years ago traditional brick-and-mortar companies were kings.
However, in order to be successful on the net, you don't have to
be a giant like them. Many small and mid-size companies managed
to build online businesses quite profitably. In fact, studies
show small and mid-size companies will be the main growth force
of e-commerce in coming years.
2. Internet is a perfect venue for business In order to make a
sale you need visitors to come to your shop. On the Internet,
your shop could be only a click away from your prospective
customers. With proper marketing your Internet storefront can
have more buyers than you ever can get in a brick and mortar
shop. 3. Company's image Whether you sell products or services
online or not, in today's world you have to have a corporate
presence on the Internet. Otherwise, as you must have noticed
that people simply don't take your business seriously if you
tell them that your company does not have a website. A nice
corporate site definitely increases the image of a company
especially if it has great product or service related content to
go with.
4. Provide better customer support
Customer accusation and retention is one of the key factors of
business value chain. Thanks to Internet technology, business
can provide customer support more effectively. This means better
customer satisfaction and increase of profitability.
5. Make information more easily available to customers. Just a
couple of years ago, companies used to require days to deliver
products or services update information to their customers.
Things have changed since then. Today you can add or make any
changes to your company and product related content virtually in
a matter of couple of hours, publish on your site and share with
the whole world. 6. Cut costs New technologies allow you to take
virtually any part of your business online, that include supply
chain management, billing, shipping, procurement etc.
Streamlining these business processes through online systems
will allow companies to cut costs significantly in almost every
sphere of any business. For example: companies can reduce more
than five percents of their maintenance, repair and operation
costs by adopting e-business solutions. This five percent
savings can turn into 50% of a company's net profit!
7. Ability to do business 24 hours How else you can continue
making sales, while your stuffs are sleeping! The biggest
advantages of online shops are that they are open 24 hours a day
year round. Thanks to Internet off time, when your shop is
generally closed, sales in some cases can be more than your
regular business hours!
8. Low start up costs
Building a web site does not require big investments. There are
many low cost tools available today, which can help you create
sites from very scratch. Many business portals allow you to
build web sites from templates. For less than 100$/month you can
have a full-fledged corporate e-business site with all
e-commerce features!
9 You physical presence could be in any location The World Wide
Web allows you to do business from any part of the world. Your
physical location, except for few cases is not that important
since you conduct your business online. 10. Go global Thanks to
Internet you can instantly become a global player. In fact, you
don't have to invest large sums of money to do this. There are
literally hundreds of vertical and horizontal e-marketplaces
available on the net. These marketplaces allow you for a nominal
fee to get access to a large audience of prospective customers
from all over the world. According to AMR Research more than
1,3$ trillion of good and services will flow through the B2B
marketplaces. Who does not want a piece of this pie!
The right determinant of e-business success is the same like any
off line business. You have to have a great idea, you have to
have a business plan, there should be a value proposition for
prospective clients and you should have belief in it and your
ability!
Getting online is becoming cheaper and easier thanks to
emergence of new technologies but marketing on the Internet is
becoming more expensive.
Take your business online now, before the marketing costs become
way too expensive for small companies.