3. Benefits of an online presence or why make the transition to eCommerce? Acknowledging and acting on the benefits of an online presence are two different things! Some are going to be a long-term goals! eCommerce benefits include:

• 1. Be free from the physical limitations and the high costs of operation time and location: Unlimited store hours, an eCommerce store is open 24 hours a day/7days a week. The cost of having such web store with 24/7 operation is much less than maintaining or building a traditional store or phone order store with 24/7 operation. A 24 Hour Store and you don’t even need to be there!

• 2. Extending the reach of your business: Web stores allow businesses to continue serving existing customers and reach customers in remote and international areas. The Internet greatly extends the reach of even small businesses. This allows a business to reach out both locally and  worldwide prospect base to sell to or buy

• 3. Easier Administration: With the right software, inventory levels, shipping and receiving logs, virtually any business administration task-can be automatically stored, categorized and updated in real-time, ready to be accessed on demand

• 4. Improved marketing:  Once a customer has purchased an item at your store, you can market products directly to them based on their buying history. This provides you with the opportunity for up-selling and value added sales.  For example, batteries and film go together with a camera?. Place products on sale and offer coupons and discounts on selected items

• 5. Identify, qualify and transact business with new trade partners

• 6. Improved customer satisfaction and customer loyalty: eCommerce creates ease of purchase and a better means to explain your products/services in a visual and interactive way.  It gives customers total control of the sales process:  they can now easily choose from all of your products (better than a cumbersome catalogue), can get up-to-the-minute, accurate product and inventory data and can shop anytime they like

• 7. New Relationships: eCommerce promotes a new way of doing business. Via Internet, vendors and suppliers can access product specifications, order details, confirmations and updates-anything they need to complete a transaction, all without the help of customer service or sales support

• 8. Enhance your message and attract interest: The web is a highly sophisticated means of communication. You can deliver dynamic and appealing presentations that will capture the attention of prospective customers. You can add color, movement, sound and video to cast a compelling marketing message that goes way beyond what can be achieved with traditional media

• 9. Reduce business costs: This includes:  lower procurement costs, reduced inventory costs, reduced administration costs, reduced service costs, advertising costs and cost of reaching and communicating with potential clients.  This allows a business to start small and "build on success". With the advent of the Internet, e-mail, and electronic file transfer, telecommunication expenditures have been reduced because we no longer need to rely on fax transmission and phone calls to communicate with customers and business partners

• 10. Shrink the Competition Gap: A well-conceived web site and a strong commerce application puts you on "equal" footing with anyone even the corporate monoliths. Compete on quality, price and availability of your product on a level playing field with even your largest competitors

• 11. Reduced Sales Cycle: Right from your site, customers can find everything they need in order to make wise purchasing decisions. Eliminate the need for unnecessary phone calls and mailings. Close the deal in minutes, not days

• 12. Eliminate Middleman: Sell directly to your customers. eCommerce eliminates a lot of middlemen roles. Bringing the merchant in closer contact to their customers thus cutting down on costs and  increasing the profit margin

• 13. Free Your Internal Staff: With all product and shipping information available at the webstore, instead of dealing with secondary matters, your internal staff can now devote more energy towards critical customer concerns, questions and demands

• 14. Reduced time to complete a business transaction

• 15. Increased revenues, revenue enhancement: Increased return on investment in an online presence. This is a significant long term goal one should intend to achieve!