Opportunities,generated,Intern DIY Opportunities generated by Internet-based e-commerce
When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in
Internet commerce can substantially improve productivity by lowering transaction, production anddistribution costs, facilitating market entry, improving customer service, extending geographical coverageand increasing competition. This should lead to lower prices, improved quality and innovative new productsand services, which should further increase economic growth and welfare. Some of the benefits associatedwith commerce over the Internet include (a) better availability of information, (b) global reach, (c) reducedtransaction costs, (d) lower barriers to entry, and (e) new sources of revenue.(a)Better availability of information: Online commerce enables better access to product and priceinformation for all involved including buyers and sellers, producers and distributors. Already, searchagentsoftware allow users to look for the lowest prices around the world. A new breed ofinfomediaries has emerged that base their operations on bringing more complete product informationto customers. Excite Inc. search engines, for instance, offer a comparison-shopping service called Jango(jango.com), which screens a range of online merchants and brings back the best prices for specificbooks, compact discs or other products. Many others offer similar service, such as Hotbot (hotbot.com)by Wired Ventures. A fast growing auction house that brings buyers and sellers together and claims tohave been profitable from day one is eBay (ebay.com). Compare.net finds products that match thefeatures and price range that the user has specified. The user can then jump to the indicated site to makea purchase.(b) Global reach (production, distribution and customer service): Distance and time become less relevantas companies are able to reach their business partners across the globe and serve their customers quicklyand around-the-clock. Producers will often be able to choose a place for production and customerservice much independently from the location of their customers. Companies and individuals in lowincome countries are able to reach information and get contacts in ways which were difficult earliereither due to the nature of voice communication and/or its very high cost.(c) Reduced transaction costs: Cost reduction has been one of the main motivations for early adoption ofthe Internet. E-commerce should also offer improved transaction management thanks to automatedorder, payment and logistics processing systems. Cisco Systems reports reducing its expenses byUS$ 500 million thanks to the Internet(d) Lower barriers to entry: The capital cost of entry to establish a presence online is low compared toconventional outlets. The cost of establishing a reputation on the Internet can also be lower than intraditional established markets. A modest investment in a brilliant idea can eventually lead to goodresults. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefit from easier market entry. But consideringthe amount of unsuccessful business endeavors online, the actual cost of setting up a profitablebusiness is probably higher than believed. With increasing global competition in electronic business,many argue that global brands will continue to dominate, while SMEs will have to specialize to nichesin order to compete.(e) New source of revenue: In 1998, nearly half of website managers claim that their online businesses areprofitable (46 per cent, up from 30 per cent recorded in the last three years). The highest profits arereported among retail websites selling directly to consumersaround half of them are profitable today.Of the websites that generated revenue in 1997, the average was a little over US$ 100000. About 30 percent generated revenues under US$ 1000 and 25 per cent had revenues between US$ 1000 andUS$ 10000. Yet, the reality is that today few companies are making big profits on the Internet. Only1 per cent of the b-to-b online businesses generated revenues above one million US dollars in the year.Not even the widely admired Amazon.com, in the Internet book selling business, is expected to beprofitable before 2001.
Opportunities,generated,Intern