For firms that produce goods or services, electronic commerce, through the creation of e-commerce websites, represents an opportunity to develop a new sales channel. This has already happened in the past because of the mix of opportunities made available from technology and organizational solutions based on the accessibility to the sales force and money.
ICT kit this new electronic channel has two exclusive features with respect to the prior channel: Electronic commerce means that the company should start to believe in terms of global trade policies. The values on websites and promotional offers are visible on the internet to customers in each country.
If this kind of globalization becomes too frightening, it is possible to fall back on Web sites specialized in specific markets, in local languages, but an experienced customer would notice any differences in the offers on the different websites online.
It should be underlined this new adverting channel has lower costs than existing ones, and especially it can cope with growing volumes of contacts without the necessity to boost advertising spaces or staff.
The low-cost investment required to produce this channel is a good opportunity for small to medium-sized companies to compete with bigger ones. To enter the company market you don’t have to have vendors, branches, or shops, except what’s strictly necessary to keep up physical contact with customers. The development of electronic commerce will eliminate protective barriers represented in the past by geographical distance.
If the products are either digital or easily transportable (ie, parcels, or packages), it will be almost irrelevant to get them from your own country or a remote country dealer. In fact, the products could be sent easily in real-time via the network, in the event of digital products, or within a couple of hours via shipping companies in the event of physical products.
The dismantling of those barriers will emphasize the significance of business intelligence and creativity in promoting their particular products and services. Since we are able to easily buy English books on discounted international websites, why should we spend your time sorting via a library locally, where they cost more and not be available until much later?
Many companies, through E-commerce websites, may begin a direct channel with their end customers. It bypasses the standard distribution chain and tries to grab a part of the product’s value that has been previously left to intermediaries downstream.
Direct contact with end customers can significantly reduce the expense of product marketing. A number of the savings are retained by the company, with obvious profit advantages, and other savings could be transferred to the marketplace in terms of selling price reduction.
Despite suppliers, electronic commerce might be conducted to bypass intermediaries and go straight to producers (in this case we speak of an e-procurement website). Even in this instance, the advantages are obvious:
Among the clearest features of an electric channel, represented by e-commerce websites, is the power for the company to get touching its end customers lacking any intermediary.
What this means is the capability to recognize and treat each customer individually in a personalized way (mass customization). ICT kit many bank websites ask their customers to specify their needs or interests; for example, a person might be interested in financing services, others in asset management services, and so on. The end result is really a customer “profile”, which produces a corresponding profile for the commercial offer: consequently, the website reconfigures itself on the cornerstone of the interests declared by the consumer and shows only offers that are presumed to be compatible together with his needs.