The Benefits of E-Commerce to the Small Business Owner

Executives used to imagine their companies as the center of a solar system

orbited by suppliers and customers. The Internet is changing that dramatically. Now the

customer is becoming the center of the entire business universe. E-commerce relates

to that part of e-business that includes transactions that involve money. The larger

concept of e-business, however, goes well beyond buying and selling items on the

Internet. E-business is about using information, technology, and resources to conduct

business online. The processes of marketing your goods and services to your

members, e-tailing, can be compared to a store front where you display products and

solicit business from others. Local, national, and international organizations can utilize your products or services just as easily as the person next door. And because the Internet is not constrained by space or time, your competition can come from

nontraditional sources. Having an online store means that a small company can look

big without having to spend big bucks. Steve Solazo, Vice President of small and

growing businesses for IBM Corp.'s software division in Somers, NY says, 'The Internet

can really help small companies improve their competitive posture. If they can move

more quickly to make information available to their suppliers and buyers, they can get an

advantage over their competitors? (McCollum, 34). With the emergence of the public

Internet, small firms that can arrange to do business on the Internet stand to win big,

since the Internet is supposed to eliminate the middleman by allowing companies to deal

directly with their end customers.

Recent surveys of small businesses and their owners reveal some intriguing

facts. Bill Schumer, national small business banking marketing manager with BANK

ONE says, ?Small business with fewer than 10 employees account for nearly 80 percent

of all U.S. companies (Providence Business News, 19B). According to the United

States Small Business Administration, only 30 percent of the nation?s 24 million small

businesses accept orders on the Web, and far fewer can process credit card

transactions (Tedeschi, C12). Half of small businesses now have Internet access, and

about 20 percent have established their own website, according to results of a national

survey commissioned by the Small Business Banking Group of BANK ONE

C...

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...ugh secure websites using a web browser. Companies including IBM

Corp., Microsoft Corp., Netscape Communications Corp., Oracle Corp., and Sterling

Commerce Inc. sell e-commerce software that lets businesses set up online catalogs,

process orders, take credit-card payments, and download transaction data into their

financial software (McCollum, 34).

Works Cited

Callaway, Erin. ?Playing with the big boys.? PC Week 15 Sept. 1997: 90.

Campanelli, Melissa. ?Setting up shop: e-commerce is booming. Here?s how you can get in the game.? Entrepreneur Aug. 1998: 43+.

?Customers Move into the Driver?s Seat.? Business Week 4 Oct. 1999: 103+.

?E-Commerce Cars: Online auto sales climb the next hill.? Fortune 1 Dec. 1999: 42.

McCollum, Tim. ?E-Commerce Takes Off.? Nation?s Business Oct. 1998: 34.

Richter, Randy. ?Minding your own e-business? Association Management Sept. 1999: 48+.

?Small businesses find value on Internet, Website.? Providence Business News 23 Aug.

1999: 19B

Tedeschi, Bob. ?Turning small businesses? Internet dreams into reality.? New York Times 11 Oct. 1999: C12.