E Business

Electronic commerce is the exchange of money for goods and services via electronic means. In other words, electronic commerce is usually when you purchase something off of the internet. Electronic commerce is often referred to as e-commerce, or e-business. The Internet has revolutionized the businesses of today. Instead of having physical stores, companies can sell their products right off of the Web. What are the affects and risks of e-business on marketing strategies today?

When comparing traditional business to e-business, one can see several differences between the two. The most obvious difference when buying standard goods (such as a computer or Clothes) is the store. When dealing with e-business there is no "real" store or merchandise to look at. It is all presented through the merchant's webpage, or by other electronic means. You will not be able to touch, or inspect potential purchases. All you will have to go on is perhaps a picture and a brief description of the item. This is obviously a big change from traditional store. There are several reasons why e-business is appealing to a lot of people. E-business is based on the internet. If you are using the internet, you are not bound by geography. You can access any site, anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own chair. Now the consumer has access to several things they didn't before. The consumer now has diversity. With the entire internet at your fingers, in a matter of minutes you can browse several stores in several parts of the world without even leaving your home. This allows you to compare prices and products. With e-business you are not restricted to the prices and products of you local stores. You can easily choose the best price on the best product.

The majority of e-businesses have software set up on their webpage to take and record your order as well as your credit card and personal information. The software is set up such that you can order anything you want without having to interact with anyone what so ever. So a lot of companies save money on hiring people for work that internet can do. In order to set an e-business you will need a domain name, web space to put pictures and things like that, and bandwidth. In addition to this, you might need to hire technical support, and purchase software needed to run your business. Compared to the cost of traditional commerce, e-business is much cheaper to run and maintain. When running an e-business you won't have as high of an overhead to pay. A domain name, web space, and bandwidth are all fairly cheap. A growing number of businesses think e-commerce is a good investment, and a legitimate way to expand their company. Large companies such as K-Mart are leaning towards the e-business market. Bluelight.com, Kmart's e-commerce site launched in 1999, is a shining example of this philosophy, having accumulated over 3.5 million customers in less than one year. Although Kmart had