E-commerce is the sale of products and services over the Internet. It is consistently the fastest growing segment of the global economy. It allows even the smallest business to reach a global audience with its product or message with minimal cost.

Is an E-Commerce Website Right For Your Business?

Probably. Much depends on the nature of your business. If you own a small independent bookstore, is there a good chance that you can get rich selling your books online? Probably not. Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have established their hold over this market, and their sheer size, name recognition and the relationship of trust they have with their customers allows them to dominate this market with good pricing (due to economies of scale) and remarkable customer loyalty.

However, if you own a local bookstore, there are several ways to reach new customers, get them to know you better and have them keep coming back for more, especially here in Kenya where companies like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble don't deliver, or require Credit Cards to make purchases. You might want to offer notices of special promotions or readings by authors.

A website doesn't need to exist solely to sell your product online. It can serve a number of roles. It could supplement the sales of your already established retail store. If you sell a unique product, such as wheat grass or gourmet chocolates, you might find success reaching others around the country (or the world, for that matter) who do not have access to these products in their own towns.

Using the Internet for conducting e-commerce will not assure you of being able to compete favorably with large established competitors. They already have the inventory, delivery and marketing systems in place and they can deliver the goods as cheap (or more cheaply) than you can. Yet, the beauty of the Internet is that it provides a global audience of potential customers, you don't have the administrative costs like rent, insurance, shop staff etc etc and your e-shop never closes.

But it is much better to not only have information about your store hours available to your potential customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but also about your entire product line. You can add pictures and maybe even video. And your customer will even be able to buy from you 24 hours a day. So, your website address should be promoted everywhere including your stationery, sales forms and advertisements.