E-Commerce Web Designers Torrevieja Costa Blanca

E-commerce is the term that describes buying or selling over the internet. Perhaps it first became known in the 1990's as part of the dot com explosion of websites such as lastminute.com, amazon.com and ebay.com to name a few.

The 'dot com bubble' as it was known led to huge investment in these companies and eventually the demise of many as they were not built on sound business models. So why does it still exist? And more to the point why would anyone want to enter this market?

Firstly, in spite of the bursting of the 'dot com bubble' the internet and especially e-commerce has grown rapidly since that time as people recognized that the idea of buying and selling online had a number of key advantages that if used correctly could be potentially stronger than the traditional means of accessing products and services.

The internet will radically change entire markets

Take the Travel Industry. Only a decade ago, if you wanted to have a holiday in Spain and you were coming from the UK, your only real option was to venture down to your local travel agent, queue until you were seen, select from the hotels and flights that were on offer from that particular agent and then pay accordingly. Quite apart from the time it took and the additional cost you were being forced to pay as staff were needed, brochures were to be printed and paperwork was required, it was something that actually didn't require that level of human intervention on the part of the sales staff and so costs could be reduced without reducing the eventual outcome. And so we saw the birth of the budget airlines and online travel companies. These companies used the internet to reduce staff levels and therefore offered lower prices than ever in mass tourism.

Today, some ten years on, we all routinely scourer the internet for cheap flights and hotels as well as information on destinations and the role of the high street travel agent has been greatly reduced. On an environmental level you may also argue that the reduction in paperwork and travel to and from the travel agents also is beneficial.

Tourism is just one example of the changes that the internet is affecting, you could include the printed media, gambling, book sales, music and so on.

Your Business and the Internet

Moving back to your business and why you should think about an e-commerce website. Firstly, there are no shops or outlets in the traditional sense that could offer you an instant sale 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year where ever you are in the world. The internet can. As such your online market is effectively the global population with access to the internet. Furthermore, you can offer this outlet for a fraction of the cost of a traditional outlet.

Stock control and reduced stock holding can also work for you when you are an intermediary. In other words, if upon receiving an order you could instantly notify the manufacturer and they could ship directly to the client thereby reducing or even eliminating your need to hold stock. For example a catalogue type of e-commerce site could display a gallery of images and all relevant information so the customer could quite easily buy goods and services from their own living room!

Cheaper overheads. In a nutshell, the maintenance of a website is far lower than that of a traditional shop and the purchase costs are also far lower. So, start-up costs are greatly lower online with the potential to earn far more.

Electronic payment. Whilst there still are a few cases of electronic credit card fraud, the reality of things today is that you are now more likely to suffer credit card fraud in a shop than you are online. Add to this the constant advances in online security receiving payment online is a real option. It is also, cheap,and instantaneous and most people even those without a credit card could pay for goods online.

It has been said that 'you can be as big as you want in the internet' which is true. In other words, the one-man band could quite easily appear as big or even bigger than household names merely by the style of there website. This in itself, provided that a number of rules are followed to facilitate buyer behaviour could mean a small company could outstrip a large one for online sales.

"First - has no equals"

In Spain, internet use is still lagging behind that of countries such as the UK, Sweden, France and Germany but it is catching up fast. Given that the annual spend on products bought over the internet is rapidly rising. So, by getting in early you have the potential to be THE Name in your online sector by exploit what is known as 'first mover advantage'. A classic example of this is the term 'Hoover'. This name has become the accepted term of this cleaning tool even though in technological terms it may have been surpassed and even in sales terms it is no longer the leading brand. Why has it stuck? Because it was the first to the market.

This advantage was worth millions over decades but it doesn't have to be a big company that achieves it. Youtube was little more than a small group of university students who wanted to share their videos with friends and now the company is worth billions of dollars. They got there first and reaped the rewards.

As the author of this article through university studies, and practical experience built up over a number of years, I am confident that a website designed for e-commerce by CB Web Solutions could achieve your aims. That said, perhaps the biggest factor is actually the advice you could receive as a client of CB Web Solutions when you embark on an e-commerce venture. By that I mean, strategic planning and tactical knowledge are just as important as the site itself and in this we can help. Your business grow.

©CB Web Solutions 2008 - Please request permission from the author if you wish to use this text.

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