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What is E-Commerce?
E-commerce is doing business electronically by computer.
Most people think e-commerce means online shopping, but Web shopping is only part of the e-commerce picture.
The term also refers to online stock-market transactions and buying and downloading software or information without ever going near a store. Also, e-commerce includes business-to-business connections that make purchasing easier for big corporations.
How Do I Start Selling Online?
You can use Yahoo's Yahoo Store, which lets you create a transactional business Web site from your browser. Yahoo hosts the site, and the cost is based on number of items--$100 per month for a store selling 50 items and $300 per month for up to 1,000 items.
Companies that have a high volume of sales--especially those that deliver such things as articles, reports, software, video, or music over the Net--require industrial-strength solutions costing anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 or more.
Of course, the software sticker price is only a small fraction of what it costs to run an e-commerce site. There are on-going costs to keep it up-to-date.
How can small businesses take advantage of e-commerce?
Large companies pour millions into fancy e-commerce sites, but even mom-and-pop shops can make money on the Web with a simple, no-frills site.
Sometimes, all it takes to succeed is word of mouth, postings in newsgroups, and registration with search engines. At least this may be enough to get noticed and some customers rolling into your site.
Although most businesses can benefit from a home page on the Web, e-commerce isn't for everyone. Firms likely to profit most are those offering unique products or services that are not readily available locally.
A small bookstore such as Joe's Books in Santa Monica might want to advertise readings by authors and tell its customers about specials, but it would not want to compete with Amazon.com.
But Gevalia, a web-based business that sells premium coffee, teas, and specialty items, might find new customers in small towns around the country, where people don't have a local Starbucks, or find unique gifts at their corner store.
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