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Vendors and Consultants: Reach your customers and journalists. Click, Submit articles and press release.
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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Feb. 20, 2008 – Leading E-Commerce solutions provider, GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC), today announced that Michael R. Conn, the company’s executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer, is scheduled to present at the Jefferies & Company’s Fourth Annual Internet Conference to be held in New York on Feb. 27 at 8 a.m. EST. |
Submitted by scm on Fri, 2008-02-22 10:44.
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Minneapolis, Minn.,SPS Commerce, the leading provider of SaaS EDI services and Interdyn Business Microvar, today announced their webcast entitled, Hosted EDI for Dynamics GP, featuring EDI and integration experts and marine electronics supplier, Vexilar Inc. The event explores why organizations are integrating their EDI operations with Microsoft Dynamics GP using outsourced B2Bi instead of traditional software deployments. |
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As our retail customers were requiring more and more EDI transactions for their direct-to-store and crossdocking processes, we decided it was time to automate Vexilar’s EDI process to draw the needed order and shipping data from our Dynamics GP solution needed by our outsourced EDI service provider, SPS Commerce, said Laurie Foell, controller at Vexilar. With the help of Interdyn Business Microvar and SPS, Vexilar integrated the hosted EDI service with our Dynamics GP system in 2007 before Vexilar’s fall busy season. These organizations know EDI, but also knew the detailed workings of Dynamics GP, making our integration one that fit our timeline and delivered the efficiency we needed. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Wed, 2008-02-13 11:46.
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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., and LEXINGTON, Mass., Jan. 24, 2008 – Leading E-Commerce and multichannel solutions provider, GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire e-Dialog Inc., a Lexington, Mass.-based market-leading provider of advanced e-mail marketing services and solutions to more than 100 blue-chip companies in the U.S. and Europe. The acquisition will significantly expand the breadth and depth of GSI’s interactive marketing services capabilities, its reach into existing and new vertical markets, and its growing European presence. e-Dialog will benefit from GSI’s large scale and market-leading position in E-Commerce and multichannel services. |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2008-02-12 11:48.
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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Jan. 24, 2008 – GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC) today announced preliminary, un-audited results for its fiscal year ended Dec. 29, 2007. Because the results are preliminary and un-audited they are subject to change. The company has scheduled a conference call with Wall Street analysts today at 10 a.m. EST to discuss its preliminary results as well as its acquisition of e-Dialog (announced today in a separate news release). The company plans to report its full fiscal year 2007 and fiscal 2007 fourth quarter operating results on Feb. 13. |
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Preliminary, Un-Audited Fiscal Year 2007 Results |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2008-02-12 11:44.
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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., – Jan. 28, 2008 – GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC) announced it has signed a multiyear extension to continue to provide customer care services for the direct-to-consumer business of Restoration Hardware (Nasdaq: RSTO).
Under terms of the extension, GSI will continue to provide customer care services for Restoration Hardware’s e-commerce, catalog and direct ship business. The relationship with Restoration Hardware was originally established with Accretive Commerce in 1998. In September 2007, Accretive was acquired by GSI. |
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“We are proud to continue our successful partnership with Restoration Hardware, and we look forward to help drive additional growth for their direct business with our customer care solutions,” said Scott Hardy, executive vice president of business management for GSI. |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2008-02-12 11:27.
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Financial Services Company to Accelerate and Centralize Analysis and Reporting with Oracle® Fusion Middleware
Redwood SHORES, Calif., Oracle today announced that Fifth Third Bancorp is upgrading to Oracle's Hyperion Planning to simplify the integration of financial and operational planning and provide users new levels of flexibility. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based bank is also implementing Oracle's Hyperion Financial Management to perform financial consolidation, reporting and analysis in a single application, enabling reduced risk and facilitating compliance. These components of Oracle(r) Fusion Middleware provide Fifth Third Bancorp with enhanced visibility, analysis and flexibility to help improve operations and rapidly capitalize on business opportunities. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 13:14.
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Integrated Approach to Business-to-Consumer Operations Changes the Game for Retailers, Manufacturers and Telecommunications Companies
Columbus , Ohio – Feb. 4, 2008 – Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) subsidiary, today unveiled a new business-to-consumer (B2C) strategy that will change the way retailers, manufacturers and telecommunications companies interact with their customers, enabling them to drive profitable growth while optimizing the consumer experience. This B2C strategy leverages the company’s advanced cross-channel selling and fulfillment applications to deliver the industry’s only truly integrated B2C offering. As part of the new strategy, Sterling Multi-Channel Selling is being enhanced with new marketing and merchandising capabilities that leverage its integrated applications and the power of the Web to deliver a more personalized, customer-centric shopping experience across all channels – in-store, online, catalog/call center, kiosk, etc. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 13:07.
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Sterling Commerce Survey Highlights the Importance of Cross-Channel Execution as Consumers “Channel-hop” between Web, Store and Call Center
Columbus , Ohio – February 4, 2008 – Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) subsidiary, today released the results of a recent survey that shows how consumers want to interact with retailers across channels. The survey found that “high-value” consumer groups – higher-income consumers, college graduates and younger consumers – have made cross-channel shopping a standard, indicating to retailers that achieving cross-channel execution can increase consumer loyalty and share of wallet. Increasingly, consumers are using the Web as a first touch-point and want to channel-hop to complete their purchases, making integration across channels essential to retail success. |
Submitted by kandeepan on Fri, 2008-02-08 13:04.
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WEST CHESTER, Pa., and KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 21, 2007 – QVC, one of the largest multimedia retailers in the world, and leading E-Commerce solutions provider GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC) recently teamed up to produce a successful, customized product offering that was promoted during the 20th anniversary of QVC’s popular “Today’s Special Value” television program. The results: more than 9,000 customized NFL team jerseys were ordered on QVC.com in a single day. |
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Customized NFL team jerseys for men, women, and children were promoted on air as an offer available through QVC.com during the recent anniversary celebration of QVC’s “Today’s Special Value” program. |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2007-10-16 11:45.
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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007 – GSI Commerce Inc. (NASDAQ: GSIC) will issue a news release announcing its fiscal 2007 third quarter operating results after the close of the financial markets on Wed., Oct. 24. The company has also scheduled a conference call at 4:45 p.m. EDT that day to discuss the company’s results and expectations for future performance. |
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Live Conference Access:
• Phone – Dial 1-866-203-3206, passcode 75317452 by 4:30 p.m. EDT on Oct. 24.
• Web – Go to http://www.gsicommerce.com, and click on the Webcast icon provided, or go to http://www.streetevents.com, where the conference call will be broadcast live. Please allow at least 15 minutes to register, download and install any necessary audio software. |
Submitted by scm on Tue, 2007-10-16 11:45.
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With shopping carts being abandoned at an alarming rate, many etailers are wondering how to stem the tide. A new case study from ExactTarget indicates that remarketing the items via email could be the answer for which etailers have been looking.
ExactTarget worked with TicketsNow on the study. Researchers found that transactional emails sent after a shopper had abandoned items in a shopping cart actually worked to improve overall company revenue by 30%. |
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Researchers set up a program that would email the user who abandoned the item within minutes of cart abandonment, reasoning that the user would go ahead and buy the item from a competing resource within a few hours if they weren't contacted. The email messages latched on to that sense of urgency, compelling shoppers to buy the item. |
Submitted by scm on Thu, 2007-10-04 11:34.
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Boston, MA, September 19, 2007 - Bridgeline Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLSW) announced today that Thomas Massie, President and Chief Executive Officer will present at the National Investment Banking Association (NIBA) Capital Conference on Thursday September 27, 2007 and on Friday September 28, 2007 at the Sheraton Copley Place Hotel in Boston, MA. For more information regarding the NIBA Capital Conference please visit www.nibanet.org. A replay of Bridgeline Software’s Presentation will be available on the company’s website for 90 days following the conference. Bridgeline Software’s web site can be found at: www.bridgelinesw.com |
Submitted by sraja on Wed, 2007-09-19 17:58.
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GSI Commerce Closes Acquisition of Accretive Commerce
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 11, 2007 – GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC), today announced it has closed its acquisition of Accretive Commerce Inc., a Huntersville, N.C.-based E-Commerce solutions provider for $97.5 million in cash.
“We are excited to welcome the employees and partners of Accretive Commerce and we look forward to growing the business as one company,” said Michael G. Rubin, GSI chairman and CEO. |
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About GSI Commerce
GSI Commerce® is a leading provider of E-Commerce solutions that enable retailers, branded manufacturers, entertainment companies and professional sports organizations to operate E-Commerce businesses. We provide solutions for our partners through our integrated E-Commerce platform, which is comprised of four components: technology, customer care, fulfillment and marketing services. We provide E-Commerce solutions for more than 60 partners. |
Submitted by scm on Thu, 2007-09-13 18:51.
Product News
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Top 10 credit union to deliver convenient, flexible and secure banking and payment options to members
ATLANTA, Sept 10, 2007 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ -- Firethorn Holdings, LLC, (www.firethornmobile.com) the mobile banking and payments enabler, and CheckFree Corporation (Nasdaq: CKFR), a leading provider of financial Electronic Commerce services and products, announced today that Ogden, Utah- based America First Credit Union, one of the nation's 10 largest credit unions, will offer the Firethorn mobile banking solution to its 432,000 members.
America First plans to go live with mobile banking and payments during the first quarter of 2008. Members will be able to use their mobile devices to pay bills, check balances, view history and transfer funds from their America First Credit Union accounts. |
Submitted by sraja on Tue, 2007-09-11 13:53.
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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., and NEW YORK – Sept. 5, 2007 – Leading E-Commerce solutions provider GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC) and MLB Advanced Media L.P. (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, today announced an extension of their E-Commerce agreement through 2016. With the agreement, GSI continues to provide Major League Baseball’s online store ( www.shop.mlb.com ) with E-Commerce technology, fulfillment and customer care. In addition, through its marketing services division, gsi interactiveSM, GSI will continue to provide catalog services and will begin to provide affiliate marketing and Search engine marketing services. |
Submitted by sraja on Fri, 2007-09-07 17:46.
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Single Global Integration Solution to Ensure Customer Information Arrives at Destination Before Flight Arrives
Seoul, Korea and Gaithersburg, Md. — August 21, 2007— GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) E-Commerce solutions, today announced that leading Korean air carrier, Asiana Airlines, has selected GXS Enterprise Gateway to support the secure electronic transfer of cargo information in accordance with commercial aviation safety rules. GXS’ unique B2B integration broker, GXS Enterprise Gateway, enables Asiana to connect with SITA, the aviation industry’s global communications services integrator, which pools the information and provides it to appropriate authorities in advance of a flight’s arrival. |
Submitted by nico on Thu, 2007-08-23 11:59.
Customer News
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New Site Features Rich Design, Parametric Navigation and Sorting,
and Other Customer-Friendly Features
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Aug.22, 2007 – PBS has made shopping online for high-quality programs even more straightforward and customer-focused with the redesign of ShopPBS.com through its partnership with leading E-Commerce solutions provider GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC). PBS is a leading name in award-winning content of every genre — from investigative journalism to educational children’s series. ShopPBS serves as a one-stop destination for a wide variety of products that inspire and entertain. Offering more than 4,500 unique titles, the redesigned Web store features some of the latest E-Commerce tools and functionality that help online shoppers easily browse and locate the titles of interest. For example, its parametric navigation lets shoppers sort titles by price, production year, title format, and by whether or not they have aired on PBS. |
Submitted by nico on Thu, 2007-08-23 10:38.
Customer News
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Leading Online Clearance Outlet Incorporates Customer-Driven Product Rankings into Searchandising Solution
PLEASANTON, CA, August 15, 2007 - Mercado Software, the leading provider of eCommerce Search and merchandising solutions, today announced the successful integration of the Bazaarvoice ratings and reviews solution at Overstock.com, Inc. Mercado's extensive use of customer feedback data makes it easier for Overstock's customers to refine product selections based on what are becoming increasingly important buying decision criteria. |
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The benefits of Search and merchandising have long been recognized: retailers have commonly reported significant conversion rate and average order value (AOV) increases as a result of solutions like Mercado. Retailers are now rapidly realizing the power of word-of-mouth marketing, and the benefits of providing a mechanism for customers to provide product reviews and rankings on their sites. Earlier this year Mercado and Bazaarvoice established a partnership to satisfy demand from retailers for the inclusion of product rankings as key relevancy metrics in eCommerce Search and navigation results. |
Submitted by nico on Wed, 2007-08-22 05:03.
Customer News
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Acquisition Expands GSI’s Market Position; Brings 14 New Partners to GSI
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Aug. 16, 2007 – Leading E-Commerce solutions provider GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC), today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Accretive Commerce Inc., a Huntersville, N.C.-based E-Commerce solutions provider. The acquisition will significantly expand GSI’s growing partner base to nearly 80 as well as add to its infrastructure. |
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“Accretive Commerce and GSI Commerce are a terrific fit,” said Michael G. Rubin, chairman and CEO of GSI Commerce. “Accretive Commerce’s business model and focus are very similar to GSI’s. Like GSI, Accretive Commerce works with a marquee group of brands and retailers. We’re excited to engage with these clients and look forward to partnering with them to further grow their businesses. By expanding the scale and scope of our infrastructure, GSI will be positioned to deliver even better service to our existing base of partners.” |
Submitted by nico on Tue, 2007-08-21 11:26.
Company Deals
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PLEASANTON, CA, August 14, 2007 - Mercado Software, the leading provider of eCommerce search and merchandising solutions, announced today it is continuing to support its exploding growth with the naming of Justin Foley as Vice President of North American Sales.
For the last ten years, Justin has been responsible for leading international and U.S. based direct, channel, and inside sales teams at various organizations. As a Business Unit Executive at IBM, he was a member of the field sales management leadership team in two software businesses (enterprise and SMB) for all IBM Software brands. He then moved to Exterprise, Inc. where he was responsible for global and channel sales development, prior to their acquisition by Commerce One. At Commerce One, he led the Utilities and Healthcare verticals, as well as SAP joint sales. From 2002 until most recently, Justin managed central region sales for ERP provider Lawson Software, where he successfully led account teams across multiple service industries – enabling business process transformation through the sale and implementation of ERP solutions. |
Submitted by nico on Thu, 2007-08-16 11:01.
Executive Moves
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Multichannel Feature Generates 75 Percent of Online Dollars for Ace Hardware
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. – Aug. 7, 2007 – With multichannel retailing perhaps one of the hottest discussion topics in e-tailing circles today, Ace Hardware has found success in offering a ship-to-store program, a multichannel capability enabled by GSI Commerce Inc. (Nasdaq: GSIC), a leading provider of e-commerce solutions. |
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A ship-to-store program allows customers to order and purchase a product online and have it shipped to the nearest retail outlet for pick up. The program allows the multichannel retailer to use its store distribution network to fulfill individual customer orders. Ace Hardware offers free shipping on such orders, and if needed, allows returns of merchandise to the retail outlet where the order was picked up. |
Submitted by nico on Thu, 2007-08-09 10:13.
Customer News
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High-end apparel and home furnishings designer to launch online boutique
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ATG (Art Technology Group, Inc., NASDAQ: ARTG), whose e-commerce suite powers more top online sellers than any other, today announced that designer James Perse has selected ATG Commerce as the e-commerce platform for the high-end lifestyle brand's first Web store, which will launch in Fall 2007. James Perse, widely acclaimed for its sophisticated, sporty men's and women's apparel, selected ATG to provide the same level of sophistication and personalized service to its online store as the brand is increasingly recognized for in its brick and mortar boutiques. |
Submitted by nico on Thu, 2007-08-09 05:48.
Customer News
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Enhanced Data Pool to Improve Quality of UK-based Supply Chains through More Accurate and Complete Product Data
LONDON and Gaithersburg, Md. — August 2, 2007 —GS1 UK, the independent supply chain data standards body, and GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, today announced an agreement to deliver a new integrated data pool solution incorporating UDEX, a GXS service, for retailers, suppliers and manufacturers in the United Kingdom. The new solution will build on GS1 UK’s global data synchronization network (GDSN)-certified data pool solution, already in use by GS1 UK members and supported by GXS Data Pool Manager. The new service offerings will include UDEX Product Data Quality (PDQ) and PDQ Firewall services already used by more than 2,000 retailers, wholesalers and suppliers both in the United Kingdom and the United States. |
Submitted by nico on Tue, 2007-08-07 11:16.
Company Deals
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Alliances, M&A Veteran Joins ATG to Strengthen e-Commerce Leadership
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ATG (Art Technology Group, Inc., NASDAQ: ARTG), whose e-commerce suite powers more top online sellers than any other, today announced the addition of Drew Reynolds to its leadership team. He will fill the newly created position of Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, reporting to President and CEO Bob Burke. Reynolds will be responsible for partner development and strategic relationships, including mergers and acquisitions. |
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Reynolds most recently served as vice president of corporate development for Hyperion Solutions, Inc., where he contributed to the business process management vendor's successful growth from $490M to over $830M in revenues. He successfully executed acquisitions and managed post merger integration. Previously, he drove strategic corporate and marketing efforts with CMGI, Inc., a diversified technology company, and Sapient Corporation, where he helped develop and grow the agency's management consulting practice from $500,000 to $10M. Earlier in his career, Reynolds developed market positioning for Oracle Corporation's application solutions in the High Tech Manufacturing and Semiconductor industries. |
Submitted by nico on Tue, 2007-07-24 10:31.
Executive Moves
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Company Now Serves More than 600 Customers Representing Both the Fortune 50 and
Small/Medium Enterprises
Foster City, Calif. and Boston, Mass. – July 23, 2007 – Today at the 2007 National Business
Travel Association (NBTA) Convention and Tradeshow, Rearden Commerce (Booth #200),
creator of the first online Personal Assistant and the largest marketplace for services of all kinds,
announced it has grown its customer base by nearly 3,000 percent in the first half of 2007,
making the company the fastest growing provider of solutions for employee spend management. |
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Today, Rearden Commerce counts more than 600 customers ranging from the Fortune 50 to |
Submitted by nico on Tue, 2007-07-24 06:49.
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Historical development
The meaning of the term "electronic commerce" has changed over the last 30 years. Originally, "electronic commerce" meant the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, usually using technology like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), where both were introduced in the late 1970s, for example, to send commercial documents like purchase orders or invoices electronically.
The 'electronic' or 'e' in e-commerce refers to the technology/systems; the 'commerce' refers to be traditional business models. E-commerce is the complete set of processes that support commercial business activities on a network. In the 1970s and 1980s, this would also have involved information analysis. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking in the 1980s were also forms of e-commerce. However, from the 1990s onwards, this would include enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing.
In the dot com era, it came to include activities more precisely termed "Web commerce" -- the purchase of goods and services over the World Wide Web, usually with secure connections (HTTPS, a special server protocol that encrypts confidential ordering data for customer protection) with e-shopping carts and with electronic payment services, like credit card payment authorizations.
Today, it encompasses a very wide range of business activities and processes, from e-banking to offshore manufacturing to e-logistics. The ever growing dependence of modern industries on electronically enabled business processes gave impetus to the growth and development of supporting systems, including backend systems, applications and middleware. Examples are broadband and fibre-optic networks, supply-chain management software, customer relationship management software, inventory control systems and financial accounting software.
When the Web first became well-known among the general public in 1994, many journalists and pundits forecast that e-commerce would soon become a major economic sector. However, it took about four years for security protocols (like HTTPS) to become sufficiently developed and widely deployed. Subsequently, between 1998 and 2000, a substantial number of businesses in the United States and Western Europe developed rudimentary web sites.
Although a large number of "pure e-commerce" companies disappeared during the dot-com collapse in 2000 and 2001, many "brick-and-mortar" retailers recognized that such companies had identified valuable niche markets and began to add e-commerce capabilities to their Web sites. For example, after the collapse of online grocer Webvan, two traditional supermarket chains, Albertsons and Safeway, both started e-commerce subsidiaries through which consumers could order groceries online.
The emergence of e-commerce also significantly lowered barriers to entry in the selling of many types of goods; accordingly many small home-based proprietors are able to use the internet to sell goods. Often, small sellers use online auction sites such as EBay, or sell via large corporate websites like Amazon.com, in order to take advantage of the exposure and setup convenience of such sites.
Success factors in e-commerce
In many cases, an e-commerce company will survive not only based on its product, but by having a competent management team, good post-sales services, well-organized business structure, network infrastructure and a secured, well-designed website. A company that wants to succeed will have to perform 2 things: Technical and organizational aspects and customer-oriented. Following factors will make business of companies succeed in e-commerce:
Technical and organizational aspects
Sufficient work done in market research and analysis. E-commerce is not exempt from good business planning and the fundamental laws of supply and demand. Business failure is as much a reality in e-commerce as in any other form of business.
A good management team armed with information technology strategy. A company's IT strategy should be a part of the business re-design process.
Providing an easy and secured way for customers to effect transactions. Credit cards are the most popular means of sending payments on the internet, accounting for 90% of online purchases. In the past, card numbers were transferred securely between the customer and merchant through independent payment gateways. Such independent payment gateways are still used by most small and home businesses. Most merchants today process credit card transactions on site through arrangements made with commercial banks or credit cards companies.
Providing reliability and security. Parallel servers, hardware redundancy, fail-safe technology, information encryption, and firewalls can enhance this requirement.
Providing a 360-degree view of the customer relationship, defined as ensuring that all employees, suppliers, and partners have a complete view, and the same view, of the customer. However, customers may not appreciate the big brother experience.
Constructing a commercially sound business model.
Engineering an electronic value chain in which one focuses on a "limited" number of core competencies -- the opposite of a one-stop shop. (Electronic stores can appear either specialist or generalist if properly programmed.)
Operating on or near the cutting edge of technology and staying there as technology changes (but remembering that the fundamentals of commerce remain indifferent to technology).
Setting up an organization of sufficient alertness and agility to respond quickly to any changes in the economic, social and physical environment.
Providing an attractive website. The tasteful use of colour, graphics, animation, photographs, fonts, and white-space percentage may aid success in this respect.
Streamlining business processes, possibly through re-engineering and information technologies.
Providing complete understanding of the products or services offered, which not only includes complete product information, but also sound advisors and selectors.
Naturally, the e-commerce vendor must also perform such mundane tasks as being truthful about its product and its availability, shipping reliably, and handling complaints promptly and effectively. A unique property of the Internet environment is that individual customers have access to far more information about the seller than they would find in a brick-and-mortar situation. (Of course, customers can, and occasionally do, research a brick-and-mortar store online before visiting it, so this distinction does not hold water in every case.)
Customer-Oriented
A successful e-commerce organization must also provide an enjoyable and rewarding experience to its customers. Many factors go into making this possible. Such factors include:
Providing value to customers. Vendors can achieve this by offering a product or product-line that attracts potential customers at a competitive price, as in non-electronic commerce.
Providing service and performance. Offering a responsive, user-friendly purchasing experience, just like a flesh-and-blood retailer, may go some way to achieving these goals.
Providing an incentive for customers to buy and to return. Sales promotions to this end can involve coupons, special offers, and discounts. Cross-linked websites and advertising affiliate programs can also help.
Providing personal attention. Personalized web sites, purchase suggestions, and personalized special offers may go some of the way to substituting for the face-to-face human interaction found at a traditional point of sale.
Providing a sense of community. Chat rooms, discussion boards, soliciting customer input and loyalty programs (sometimes called affinity programs) can help in this respect.
Owning the customer's total experience. E-tailers foster this by treating any contacts with a customer as part of a total experience, an experience that becomes synonymous with the brand.
Letting customers help themselves. Provision of a self-serve site, easy to use without assistance, can help in this respect. This implies that all product information is available, cross-sell information, advise for product alternatives, and supplies & accessory selectors.
Helping customers do their job of consuming. E-tailers and online shopping directories can provide such help through ample comparative information and good search facilities. Provision of component information and safety-and-health comments may assist e-tailers to define the customers' job.
Problems
Even if a provider of E-commerce goods and services rigorously follows these "key factors" to devise an exemplary e-commerce strategy, problems can still arise. Sources of such problems include:
Failure to understand customers, why they buy and how they buy. Even a product with a sound value proposition can fail if producers and retailers do not understand customer habits, expectations, and motivations. E-commerce could potentially mitigate this potential problem with proactive and focused marketing research, just as traditional retailers may do.
Failure to consider the competitive situation. One may have the will to construct a viable book e-tailing business model, but lack the capability to compete with Amazon.com.
Inability to predict environmental reaction. What will competitors do? Will they introduce competitive brands or competitive web sites? Will they supplement their service offerings? Will they try to sabotage a competitor's site? Will price wars break out? What will the government do? Research into competitors, industries and markets may mitigate some consequences here, just as in non-electronic commerce.
Over-estimation of resource competence. Can staff, hardware, software, and processes handle the proposed strategy? Have e-tailers failed to develop employee and management skills? These issues may call for thorough resource planning and employee training.
Failure to coordinate. If existing reporting and control relationships do not suffice, one can move towards a flat, accountable, and flexible organizational structure, which may or may not aid coordination.
Failure to obtain senior management commitment. This often results in a failure to gain sufficient corporate resources to accomplish a task. It may help to get top management involved right from the start.
Failure to obtain employee commitment. If planners do not explain their strategy well to employees, or fail to give employees the whole picture, then training and setting up incentives for workers to embrace the strategy may assist.
Under-estimation of time requirements. Setting up an e-commerce venture can take considerable time and money, and failure to understand the timing and sequencing of tasks can lead to significant cost overruns. Basic project planning, critical path, critical chain, or PERT analysis may mitigate such failings. Profitability may have to wait for the achievement of market share.
Failure to follow a plan. Poor follow-through after the initial planning, and insufficient tracking of progress against a plan can result in problems. One may mitigate such problems with standard tools: benchmarking, milestones, variance tracking, and penalties and rewards for variances.
Becoming the victim of organized crime. Many syndicates have caught on to the potential of the Internet as a new revenue stream. Two main methods are as follows: (1) Using identity theft techniques like phishing to order expensive goods and bill them to some innocent person, then liquidating the goods for quick cash; (2) Extortion by using a network of compromised "zombie" computers to engage in distributed denial of service attacks against the target Web site until it starts paying protection money.
Failure to expect the unexpected. Too often new businesses do not take into account the amount of time, money or resources needed to complete a project and often find themselves without the necessary components to become successful.
Product suitability
Certain products or services appear more suitable for online sales; others remain more suitable for offline sales.
Many successful purely virtual companies deal with digital products, (including information storage, retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies, education, communication, software, photography, and financial transactions. Examples of this type of company include: Google, eBay and Paypal. Other successful marketers such as use Drop shipping or Affiliate marketing techniques to facilitate transactions of tangible goods without maintaining real inventory. Examples include numerous sellers on eBay.
Virtual marketers can sell some non-digital products and services successfully. Such products generally have a high value-to-weight ratio, they may involve embarrassing purchases, they may typically go to people in remote locations, and they may have shut-ins as their typical purchasers. Items which can fit through a standard letterbox — such as music CDs, DVDs and books — are particularly suitable for a virtual marketer, and indeed Amazon.com, one of the few enduring dot-com companies, has historically concentrated on this field.
Products such as spare parts, both for consumer items like washing machines and for industrial equipment like centrifugal pumps, also seem good candidates for selling online. Retailers often need to order spare parts specially, since they typically do not stock them at consumer outlets -- in such cases, e-commerce solutions in spares do not compete with retail stores, only with other ordering systems. A factor for success in this niche can consist of providing customers with exact, reliable information about which part number their particular version of a product needs, for example by providing parts lists keyed by serial number.
Purchases of pornography and of other sex-related products and services fulfill the requirements of both virtuality (or if non-virtual, generally high-value) and potential embarrassment; unsurprisingly, provision of such services has become the most profitable segment of e-commerce.[citation needed]
There are also many disadvantages of e-commerce, one of the main ones is fraud. This is where your details (name, bank card number, age, national insurance number) are entered into what look to be a safe site but really it is not. These details can then be used to steal money from you and can be used to buy things on line that you are completely unaware of until it is too late. If this information is leaked into the wrong hands. People are able to steal your identity, and commit more fraud crimes under your name. Finally there are many problems with e commerce some of which are:
Failure to understand customers, why they buy and how they buy. Even a product with a sound value proposition can fail if producers and retailers do not understand customer habits, expectations, and motivations. E-commerce could potentially mitigate this potential problem with proactive and focused marketing research, just as traditional retailers may do. Failure to consider the competitive situation. One may have the will to construct a viable book e-tailing business model, but lack the capability to compete with Amazon. Inability to predict environmental reaction. What will competitors do? Will they introduce competitive brands or competitive web sites? Will they supplement their service offerings? Will they try to sabotage a competitor's site? Will price wars break out? What will the government do? Research into competitors, industries and markets may mitigate some consequences here, just as in non-electronic commerce. Over-estimation of resource competence. Can staff, hardware, software, and processes handle the proposed strategy? Have e-tailer's failed to develop employee and management skills? These issues may call for thorough resource planning and employee training.
Products less suitable for e-commerce include products that have a low value-to-weight ratio, products that have a smell, taste, or touch component, products that need trial fittings — most notably clothing — and products where colour integrity appears important. Nonetheless, Tesco.com has had success delivering groceries in the UK, albeit that many of its goods are of a generic quality, and clothing sold through the internet is big business in the U.S. Also, the recycling program Cheapcycle sells goods over the internet, but avoids the low value-to-weight ratio problem by creating different groups for various regions, so that shipping costs remain low.
Acceptance
Consumers have accepted the e-commerce business model less readily than its proponents originally expected. Even in product categories suitable for e-commerce, electronic shopping has developed only slowly. Several reasons might account for the slow uptake, including:
Concerns about security. Many people will not use credit cards over the Internet due to concerns about theft and credit card fraud.
Lack of instant gratification with most e-purchases (non-digital purchases). Much of a consumer's reward for purchasing a product lies in the instant gratification of using and displaying that product. This reward does not exist when one's purchase does not arrive for days or weeks.
The problem of access to web commerce, mainly for poor households and for developing countries. Low penetration rates of Internet access in some sectors greatly reduces the potential for e-commerce.
The social aspect of shopping. Some people enjoy talking to sales staff, to other shoppers, or to their cohorts: this social reward side of retail therapy does not exist to the same extent in online shopping.
Poorly designed, bug-infested e-Commerce web sites that frustrate online shoppers and drive them away.
Inconsistent return policies among e-tailers or difficulties in exchange/return.
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