Electronic Commerce - A Guide To Better Practice -


The idea of "best practice" in an environment so new and fast moving may seem to be contradictory. What may be established today as a sound practice, may be overturned tomorrow by changes in technology, markets or regulatory environments. Confronted by such changes a small company might conclude that it is better to wait and see the developments. Change is however perpetual, and drawing on the experiences of others is one way to reduce the risk of embarking on electronic commerce.

Electronic Commerce has been hitting the headlines now for over a year. The phenomenal growth of the Internet lead by the World Wide Web (WWW), has opened many small companies horizons to new potential. We see many advertisements with the now familiar URL (Universal Resource Locator) indicating an awareness of the benefits of the Web, and its potential for cost effective advertising. On the other hand we see hundreds of press releases each week from suppliers of electronic commerce solutions, or at least components of those solutions.

Electronic commerce implies a cycle of 4 phases.

• Prospecting or searching for information
• Establishing the "shopping-list" of alternatives
• Striking the bargain and placing the order
• Delivery of the goods or services

Even the after sales activity can also be viewed in terms of this same cycle.

Each of these phases implies a different set of business skills and processes on the part of the buyer and the seller. Acquiring these skills and understanding of the processes will be key to the success of any organisation embarking into electronic commerce.

Hence this web site. The intent is not to produce a definitive "best practice" but a living guide to what must be seen as an ever-changing topic. The examples here represent a small sample of the activity in this arena, and concentrates mainly on real business activity rather than pre-commercial projects. Some of the examples come from large companies and the way in which they can deal with others, the other side of the equation.

We hope it will stimulate small companies to examine electronic commerce in the knowledge that there are others experimenting and succeeding.