When a site provides interaction with the browsers, it moves from being a sales product
to being part of both the sales and the production activities.
Possible Activities
Once a person visiting the site has been identified, the number or activities that can be offered are limited only by the imagination.
More common ones include:
- Selective information dissemination. The logon process may be required simply to keep proprietary information from the
general populace. For instance, a business may sell information such as a newsletter. When it is purchased, the purchaser is given
a UserId and password so that they can see the newsletter.
- Providing personalized preferences. For example, www.spatial-online.com sells
extensions for 2 different releases of software. It maintains past choices about which software release the browser is interested in.
- Providing personalized information. For example, the eService described at
www.homedeliverymanagement.com provides the customer information about their orders
and accounts.
- Take orders. Very little is required to take orders from the customer. This can be implemented by simply sending an email through
to the company (important that the corporate email is correct!!), or go all the way to producing packing orders (see the section on
eBusiness).
- Accept payments. It is not necessary to accept payment on the site, even if sales are made. If you commonly provide invoices prior to
receiving payment, or request payment at the time of delivery, there is no advantage is taking the payment on line, except as a matter of
business expediency.
Matching Your Business Requirements
In many cases, there is not an advantage for a website to be more than an information dissemination site, with of course information about
how to contact the business.
Considerations in whether or not your business is likely to be successful in selling through the Internet include:
- Is the company or product well enough known that customers will have faith in it? I may purchase a Dell computer on line, but not an unknown brand.
- Is the product easily evaluated? I may purchase software that I can download and test prior to paying for it, even if I do not know the company or product.
- How expensive is your product? I may be willing to risk money to some level.
- How easily defined and quantified is the product or service? Most people feel comfortable with booking the car to be washed, but may want to talk to a human before agreeing to have it painted.
- What are the risk factors? If the purchase and utilization of the product I am purchasing is likely to alter the way I do business, I will probably need more confidence in the vendor than I can glean through the Internet.
For instance, this site sells technical expertise to be applied to a specific business's need. The service is very personalized and not amenable to
mass sales. Spatial Solutions Inc. also owns software products that are amenable to mass sales and have been successfully sold through
www.spatial-online.com since 1997.
As another example, the clients of www.homedeliverymanagement.com, that is businesses in the Home
Delivery business, will enter into a contractual agreement with Home Delivery Management before becoming a client. The services they are purchasing
are not amenable to direct sales through the Internet. However, their customers, people who are ordering vegetables, dairy or bakery products to be
delivered to their door, are willing to purchase on line as they know they company, and the risk is the cost of a few food items.
It is important that the interactive activities of a business website are in tune with the business model and marketplace.
Sample Customer Interaction Sites
The Spatial Solutions Inc. site that interacts with customers sells software.
www.spatial-online.com has been selling software online since 1997.
The products it sells can be downloaded and tried prior to purchasing. They typically provide a convenient means of doing a specific task,
but do not have a major impact on the business model.
|