What is eCommerce
eCommerce can be defined as
the purchase of products or services over the World Wide Web. No business has
been safe The growth of eCommerce in the next four years will rival the
growth of the Internet itself. Reports on eCommerce from major national
players such as International Data Corporation (http://www.idc.com),
The Industry Standard (http://www.thestandard.com),
and Forrester Research, Inc. (http://www.forrester.com)
show estimated U.S. eCommerce sales figures ranging from $1.0-$1.4 trillion by
2003. This activity includes both business-to-consumer (retail eCommerce)
and business-to-business sales.
For the sake of convenience, LoudOffice.com has
decided to provide a brief explanation for 3 basic categories of eCommerce where
LoudOffice.com
feels we provide the highest quality of service to our customers:
When most people think of
eCommerce, this is what they are referring to- the direct sale of goods and
services from business to consumers. Many of the advantages of business to
consumer (B2C) eCommerce were
first exploited by retail “e-businesses” such as Amazon.com,
eTrade, eBay,
and Auto-by-tel. These companies were created as Internet versions of
traditional bookstores, brokerage firms, auction houses, and auto dealerships.
Freed from the geographic confines and costs of running actual stores, such
firms could deliver almost unlimited content on request and could react and make
changes in close to real-time. Compared to traditional retail or catalogue
operations, this new way of conducting business is changing cost structures.
The emergence of these types of e-businesses has made their “brick and
mortar” competitors consider their own eCommerce strategies, and many are now
operating or planning to operate their own online stores. It is also
leading to a new breed of entrepreneurs who will utilize the Internet to realize
their dreams of delivering their products or services directly to the
marketplace without high start-up or overhead costs.
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Although retail eCommerce
gets most of the attention, the simple fact remains that spending on
business-to-business (B2B) eCommerce was more than 500% higher than spending on
business-to-consumer eCommerce ($43 billion to $8 billion) in 1998 and is
expected to grow to even higher heights into the new millennium. By 2003,
B2B eCommerce will soar - with total B2B eCommerce expenditures expected to
reach $1.5 trillion by 2004.
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Although it is mostly
considered a complementing product supporting the eCommerce sales transaction,
advertising on the Internet is a powerful source of revenue in the Internet
marketplace. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), Internet
advertising was projected to exceed $2 billion in 1998,
and is expected to grow to upwards of $7 billion by 2002.
As existing companies
struggle to maintain and expand market share and new participants enter the
marketplace, the role of advertising will become more important. The need
to effectively market products and services in the future will require that
Internet advertising dollars be spent on more than just banner ads, leaving
endless possibilities for eCommerce solutions which are based on developing and
enhancing powerful symbiotic relationship between different companies and
complementing web sites.
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To put the power of eCommerce to
work for your business, contact LoudOffice.com
today.
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