Introduction and Basic Overview of E-Commerce - The Free Management
Library will help you address the major considerations in setting
up an e-commerce business. The considerations are as follows.
E-Commerce is Like Any Other Business, Except ... Developing a
business over the Internet requires many of the same major activities
as starting any other business. You should do some basic business
planning. After all, you need a product. You may need funding
to get your business going. You need customers. You need to market
products to your customers. You need strong customer service.
You need to manage purchases by customers, finances, staff and
other resources.
Not All Products Are Very Compatible to Sales Over the Internet.
But there are some features unique to e-commerce. Not all products
are real compatible to be sold over the Internet. For example,
they may require a lot of face-to-face selling.
They may cost a lot to ship (a primary practice in e-commerce
is that customers buy products, and you ship the products to them).
You need to make sure that, because your product may be advertised
to the world, that you remain in control of your ideas, or "intellectual
property". You Need an On-Line "Store" - Basically,
you need an "on-line store" to be an "e-tailer".
Your store will also need a "merchant" account, or the
ability to process your customers' credit card transactions over
the Internet. |
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