Success Of An Entreprenuer

1. Introduction

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is

the process of buying and selling goods and

services electronically with computerised

business transactions using the Internet,

networks, and other digital technologies. It

also encompasses activities supporting those

market transactions, such as advertising,

marketing, customer support, delivery, and

payment (Laudon, et al, 2000). In the past

few years, the explosion of e-commerce has

had a profound impact on business worldwide.

The Internet marketer has a global

reach because it eliminates obstacles created

by geography, time zones, and location

(Quelch, et al., 1996). The low entry barriers

have made the global marketplace an easier

playing field for businesses which can

bypass physical networks of intermediaries

and bring goods and services directly to

customers anywhere.

1.1 Electronic Commerce in China

According to official China Internet

Network Information Centre (CNNIC)

report, China has 26.5 million Internet users

as of mid 2001 since linked to the Internet in

1994. In addition, dot-com and e-commerce

web sites have been springing up during the

past couple of years. It has been recently

reported that China ranked seventh among

non-U.S. countries in registering the

maximum number of dot-com companies in

the year ending in February 2000

(Bandyopadhyay, 2001). China now has

more than 600 on-line shopping sites,

accounting for 60% of the total number of ecommerce

websites. Most of these on-line

shops serve consumers in large cities, such

as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. A

report released at the 5th China International

E-Commerce Summit, predicted that

China’s B2C online shopping market scale

will be US$190 million in 2001, and the

transaction amount will increase to US$3.2

billion in 2004 (People’s Daily Online,

2001).

Despite such tremendous numbers and

an apparent huge growth trend, there are

many problems threatening the fast

development of e-commerce. For example:

insecure online payment, uncertain delivery

time, poor after sales service, little guarantee

of product quality, limited range of products

offered, low speed and the high cost of

online access, lack of a public regulation to

protect the buyer, etc. These bottlenecks

may constrain the growth of China’s B2C

transaction (Ernst, D., et al, 2000). Internet

marketers have to resolve these barriers and

launch new e-commerce business models.

1.1 The Japanese 7dream Model

In Japan, there is a consumer based ecommerce

revolution. Seven-Eleven Japan Co.

Ltd, the country’s largest convenience store

chain with 8,200 outlets, established an ecommerce

business model called 7dream.com,

with seven other Japanese companies,

including NEC Corp., Nomura Research

Institute, Sony Corp., Sony Marketing (Japan)

Inc., Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Japan Travel Bureau,

Inc., and Kinotrope, Inc. The consortium

launched the web site in July 2000 to handle a

wide range of operations, including

distribution, sales and services, with product

delivery and payment made at any Seven-

Eleven convenience stores nation-wide. Also,

Seven-Eleven installed in-store multimedia

terminals for consumers to order products

(Seven-Eleven Japan, 2000). Figure 1 shows

the 7dream e-commerce model.

The basic concept behind the 7dream

model is that after the consumer places an

order on the web, they can pick up and pay for

their purchases at any Seven-Eleven stores on

a 24-hour basis (credit card payments, reliable

pay-on-delivery and home delivery courier

services are also available). This approach

provides the option to use the Internet to do

comparative shopping and purchase goods.

Figure 1 The