Given the scope
an eBusiness Strategy can cover, its important to choose the right
approach for your organisation. In expanding an established off-line
business into the world of the Internet, you need to look at where
your company sits at the moment and where you'd like it to be positioned
in the future - ask yourself:
:: What benefits can a website
bring to my organisation?
:: What does my current site achieve - could it be doing more?
:: How are my customers' expectations and business behaviours changing?
:: What are my competitors doing?
:: Is there an opportunity to cut costs and streamline administrative
procedures?
The advantage of having a pre-existing business base
(as opposed to a start-up on-line business) is that you have the
ability to carefully leverage up existing operations with possibly
years of business experience of your market. Choose your strategy
carefully but be aware that you'll also have to move up through
the levels over time to maintain and increase your customer base.
| 1.
Corporate Presence Strategy |
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Often known as the 'business card' or
'brochure' type website, a Corporate Presence site is a static-content
shopfront for your business on the web. An important first
step in establishing an on-line identity with your customers
it generally consists of broad introductory information on
a range of your company's products and operations.
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| 2.
Product/Service Information Strategy |
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| The first step towards eCommerce
this addresses customer demands for better access to information
on your product and service range covering descriptions, pricing,
contact details etc. The strategy entails designing and implementing
a product/service database that drives your site content like
an on-line catalogue. |
| 3.
eCommerce Strategy |
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| A step up from the previous
model, this allows clients to easily purchase goods and services
directly from your website by integrating your product database
with an on-line payment system. Visitors can browse and view
products, adding and deleting them form a virtual 'shopping-cart'
before ultimately proceeding to a checkout where the order is
placed and payment processed. |
| 4.
Extranet Services |
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An extranet simply
involves targeting the functionality of a certain section
of your site to cater for the needs of a particular group
of people within or outside your organisation - sales force
personnel, representatives, partners and suppliers etc.
The productive uses
are infinite: for example, to provide downloadable literature
to your sales representatives, to allow reps upload orders
and sales figures while on the road, to deliver promotional
material to your customers, to share project milestones with
partners, to exchange information with suppliers and distributors.
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have a browse through our virtual
store CDmania
- a live sample of an eCommerce store |
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|
click
here to see an outline of the steps involved in a web development
project |
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