eCommerce Introduction

eCommerce has become a hot topic again. After the internet hype and the exaggerated expectations from eCommerce the opportunities for online sales are being evaluated once again soberly and objectively. At the same time eCommerce has developed surprisingly in the past few years. The transformation cannot be stopped and the opportunities offered by eCommerce can be seen by anyone.

Countless companies are showing how it’s done every day and demonstrate impressively how eCommerce can be used in the B2C or B2B sector to sustain increases in turnover and profit, acquire new customers, improve customer relations and services, speed up the sales process and lower distribution costs.

In the meantime, the use of the internet as an additional sales channel has become a completely normal business model for companies of all sizes in nearly every sector. eCommerce revenues are rising steadily and the number of people using the internet to get information or go shopping is continuing to increase. The rapid wide-spread availability of broadband ADSL connections at cheap monthly rates is a significant factor for this, continually stimulating eCommerce revenues.

Today eCommerce is standard practice for companies wanting to enhance their sales efficiency, make more revenue and improve their customer services. This practical guide was written for small to medium-sized companies who want long-term success in online sales. The practical tips are oriented primarily towards the following target groups:

• Companies already running an offline business and wanting to use eCommerce as an additional sales channel, primarily in order to better serve their existing customers. The primary concern of these companies is the optimisation and automation of sales and ordering processes to improve customer relations and increase revenues for each existing customer and not so much the acquisition of new customers.
• The second group are start-ups that see a business opportunity on the internet and want to set up purely online sales. The goal of these companies is to open up new markets, attain a certain degree of recognition in the target groups and to acquire new customers and retain them for the long-term using the online store in combination with effective marketing campaigns.
• The third group includes companies that are reaching their limits with their traditional business and classic distribution models and see new areas of growth and opportunities in eCommerce.

These companies mainly want to use eCommerce to reach new target groups that they were previously unable to approach, e.g. internationally, other regions or cities or new age groups. Here too the acquisition of clearly defined new customer groups and the most efficient possible, often international online commerce takes centre stage.

No matter which group you are in this practical guide will give you the right answers to your questions about eCommerce.

• What does success in eCommerce actually mean or what measurable indicators of success are there?
• How are successful online stores different from less successful eCommerce sites?
• What are the most important factors for successful online sales? In the end, the customer decides whether you are successful or not. What is decisive is that the power of customers has increased considerably in the age of eCommerce. One click of the mouse and your customer is in the online store of your competitor. There he may get better service or find the right product more quickly. In answering the questions above the central focus is consistently placed in this guide on the online customer with his special needs and requirements when shopping online.

If you want to exploit the opportunities and chances of online sales or sustainably improve your existing eCommerce activities in future, this guide is just the thing you will want to read. On the following pages you will find a comprehensive and practical analysis of the factors for success in eCommerce sales.