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Revenue
Enhancement — E-commerce gives you an additional
sales channel and the opportunity to diversify your revenue
streams to include new Web-based products and services.
This may include advertising fees from ads on your online
community pages and partnership revenues from new alliances.
E-commerce also helps you generate sales leads for your
channel partners, boosting your own revenues. |
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For example, a small publisher of travel books decided
to publish some of its editorial content on a Web site.
Through word of mouth, thousands of travelers began using
the site for travel information and updates. With a growing
number of site visitors each day, the publishing company
decided to launch an advertising campaign to promote the
site. Commercial vacation vendors noticed and bought ad
space on the site. The publishers began earning advertising
revenues and the vendors gained access to an active online
community. |
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Market
Expansion — E-commerce can enable you to
sell your products and services and extend your name and
brand awareness beyond your current market at a lower
cost than other traditional alternatives, such as building
new stores or launching ad campaigns. |
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For
example, a specialty culinary store added a wedding registry
to its site. Soon, couples were creating online wish lists
from which guests across the country could purchase items.
Without the registry, the retailer would have remained
confined to its local markets. |
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Access
to Customer Information — E-commerce gives
you important information about your customers' buying
behavior. Some e-commerce applications provide tools to
create detailed user profiles, which can be used to deliver
offers targeted for internal corporate analysis or customer
service use. Moreover, you can create and preserve strong
relationships with your customers, resulting in a key
competitive advantage-increased customer loyalty. |
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For
example, a popular local restaurant allowed customers
to book reservations and receive driving directions online.
When customers booked reservations, the site captured
the time and date the reservation was made, demographic
information, and customer feedback. The restaurant then
compiled and analyzed this data to better serve its customers
and increase customer loyalty. |
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Cost Reduction — E-commerce expands your
sales efforts and streamlines the flow of information
among your company's departments. This functionality can
enable you to increase the effectiveness and productivity
of sales representatives and support personnel. |
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For
example, a chain of coffee and tea retail stores added
a feature to its site that allowed visitors to locate
nearby stores in addition to buying online. Visitors typed
in addresses into a form, and the site delivered a customized
list of stores on a map. This reduced the number of calls
store personnel received asking for directions, and it
increased the store's brand presence in both the online
and offline community. |