E-commerce impacts upon almost every function within a business.

Marketing and IT need to work together to plan and create your website and related materials such as any email marketing campaign. You’ll also want to involve other areas such as accounting, stock control and delivery, particularly if your e-commerce site is going to be directly integrated into their systems.

It’s a good idea to discuss your plans with key business partners such as major customers and suppliers. See the page in this guide on trading partner relationships.

Before starting an e-commerce project, you need to ensure that you are fully committed. Top-level involvement in the team can help demonstrate your commitment and encourage different employees to work together effectively.

Technical planning

Depending on the level of in-house technical expertise, you will almost certainly need to involve external IT suppliers. Your requirements may include additional hardware and software, website design and training for your employees. You may also need to review or renegotiate your relationship with your internet service provider.

If several different technology suppliers are involved in the project, it’s important to plan and manage how they will work together. You also need to ensure that any solutions work with your existing IT systems.

The key tool for delivering e-commerce services is the business website. This must be specified, designed, hosted and maintained.

Specification

The website specification should clearly identify what the site is trying to achieve and how its various components will contribute to this. An understanding of the intended user audience is required for both technical and marketing purposes.

Domain name

Domain names are an enormous help in the branding of a business. Your domain name should be easy to remember and spell, and should show what your business is all about. If not, then potential customers will surf elsewhere and possibly find your competition.

Website hosting

If you purchase a domain name you can either host your own website or have an internet service provider (ISP) host it on your behalf. If you choose to host the website yourself, you will require a fast internet connection, a suitable server and the provision of technical support. However, ISP hosting is relatively cheap and straightforward and is the most preferred option for most businesses.

Software options

An important early decision to consider is whether to use a ‘shop’ package or build the software from scratch.

Shop packages allow you to configure product information and the look and feel of the shop. However, they can provide limited opportunities for tailoring them to your back office processes.

Alternatively you can get a third party to build the software for you, or develop it yourself in house.

Source : Business Link

These internet-based technologies and processes also allow you to improve your own business efficiency.

An internal, browser-based company network (intranet) can be used to improve efficiency by enabling employees to search for and share key business information.

An extranet extends this to external partners, such as suppliers and key customers.

Extranets can be used for exchanging data and applications, and sharing specific information – for example, inventory levels and sales trends.

Supply chain management

The concept of supply chain management revolves around having the right product in the right place, at the right time, and in the right condition.

The key aspects of supply chain management include the ability of businesses to:

• exchange information on stock levels
• fulfil orders more quickly
• minimise excess inventory
• improve customer service
• use a networking infrastructure to ensure good response times and speed

E-marketplaces

There are many online exchanges that enable suppliers, buyers and intermediaries to come together and offer products or services to each other, according to set criteria. Buyers and sellers work interactively with bids and offers. When a deal is made, it is a match between the buyer and seller on variables such as price, volume and delivery costs.

Reverse auctions are buyer-controlled events and are used to attract bids, with the lowest bid winning. Buyers post details of the goods they want to buy and suppliers compete to provide them.

Source : Business Link

Direct sales

Many businesses use e-commerce for the direct selling of goods or services online. For some businesses such as those selling software or music, the sale and delivery of goods can be made online. For most the supply of goods will continue to require a physical delivery.

If you plan to sell online, you may need to rethink many of your business activities. You will fundamentally change the way in which you interact with your customers – for example, if customers place orders online instead of talking to a salesperson. You will also need to work out how every aspect of a transaction is handled – including order confirmation, invoicing and payment, and deliveries and returns.

Pre-sales

You can use your website for pre-sales activities – exploiting the widespread use of the internet to generate sales leads. At its most basic this can be through the use of ‘brochureware’ – having an online version of your promotional materials on your site. Other options include email campaigns, search marketing or online advertising to attract visitors to your website.

Post-sales support

You can also use the internet to automate aspects of your customer support to reduce the number of routine customer service calls. This can be achieved by using your site to answer the most frequently asked questions, or by putting technical information online.

However you decide to use e-commerce, it is important to define your expectations from the outset. What level of sales are you hoping to make? How many sales leads are you looking to generate? What percentage reduction in customer telephone calls are you expecting to achieve? Ensure that targets are put in place so that you can measure the success, or otherwise, of your e-commerce activities.

E-commerce plays an increasingly important role in the way in which products and services are purchased.

E-commerce systems such as your website can be used to market and sell to customers, and to provide after-sales support. E-commerce can also be an important part of strengthening relationships and improving the efficiency of your dealings with suppliers and other key trading partners.

This guide looks at the key issues to consider when planning for the introduction of e-commerce. It provides advice on how best to identify the opportunities for e-commerce within your business and the solutions available. It also emphasises the need to plan for the ongoing development and maintenance of any e-commerce system at the outset.

Identifying e-commerce opportunities

With the enactment of the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) 1998, Singapore became the first in the world to implement the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce, and is widely acknowledged as a world leader in laws relating to electronic commerce and ICT. Besides provisions for creating a commercial code for e-commerce transactions, the 1998 ETA also contained clauses on the government use of electronic applications, the limitation of liability of Network Service Providers, as well as set out a framework for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

The United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (UN Convention), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 23rd November 2005, drew upon the rules contained in the UNCITRAL Model Law and is intended to supersede it. One of the main drivers for the UN Convention was that the current Internet environment is vastly different from the predominantly EDI environment in 1998, when the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce was issued. Following the adoption of the UN Convention, IDA together with the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) conducted a review of the 1998 ETA, culminating in the 2010 ETA.

The 2010 ETA, in aligning with the UN Convention, largely retains the legal scheme for dealing with electronic transactions contained in the 1998 ETA. There are a number of details that are changed, in order to provide greater flexibility and to keep up with technology changes.

The main differences between the 1998 ETA and the 2010 ETA are summarised below:

1. Application and Consent: Clause 5 of the 2010 ETA clarifies that parties still have autonomy on deciding to exclude or agree to the use of electronic transactions, or to agree to additional requirements as to the form or authentication of a contract or transaction. The agreement or consent to the use of electronic transactions was also clarified to be inferred from the conduct of the parties unless otherwise agreed or provided by law.
2. Electronic Originals: Clause 9 of the 2010 ETA provides that a requirement in law to provide or retain certain documents, records or information in its original form can be fulfilled by retaining them in the form of electronic records, subject to certain safeguards. A public agency may impose additional requirements for the electronic originals under its jurisdiction. The Minister may exclude certain laws from this provision.
3. Time and Place of Dispatch and Receipt: Clause 13 of the 2010 ETA modifies the current rules in Clause 15 of the 1998 ETA on when and where an electronic communication is deemed to have been dispatched or received. The new rules are a better fit for internet communications, where communications can move from one email server to another, as opposed to the rules in the 1998 ETA which were created in the time of closed systems.
4. Invitation To Make Offers: Clause 14 of the 2010 ETA clarifies that an electronic communication proposing to conclude contracts and is addressed to the world at large (e.g. website advertising prices of goods) is considered an invitation to make offers, not offers capable of immediate acceptance, unless it clearly indicates the intention of the party making the proposal to be bound in case of acceptance.
5. Automated Message Systems: Clause 15 and 16 of the 2010 ETA facilitates the use of automated message systems. Clause 15 clarifies that contracts formed through the use of such systems (e.g. when a seller instructs a computer to accept an order for a product so long as there is enough stock) are valid and enforceable, even though no natural persons had reviewed the action of the systems or the result. Clause 16 allows for errors made in an electronic communication to be able to be withdrawn by the error-maker if the error was made by a natural person and an automated message system, and the system does not allow the person to correct the error.
6. Technology Neutrality: Part IV of the 2010 ETA has been amended to be technologically neutral. Technology-specific provisions based on the public-key infrastructure (PKI) have been shifted into the Third Schedule of the ETA, opening the possibility of the 2010 ETA being applicable to other security procedures like biometrics.
7. E-Government: Part V of the 2010 ETA clarifies that public agencies are empowered to accept in electronic form the filing of documents, provision of information, creation or retention of documents and originals, and the issuance of permits and payments, without having to amend their present legislations.

The good news is that e-commerce has grown between 15% – 25% every year over the past 10 years. The strong growth trend in e-commerce is expected to continue for the next five years, with the potential of reaching US$1 trillion sales by 2011.

The bad news is that payment fraud has become a major threat for the e-commerce industry with the ability to impact its booming global growth significantly. In most cases, online fraud is not only increasing in numbers but also becoming more complex to address.

This white paper describes the key trends in e-commerce and related fraud as well as the complexity of different types of fraud across some key countries and verticals. It also provides an overview of best practices, including two real life case studies by Levi’s and OffGamers. Fraud will not disappear, nor will you ever bring it down to zero. The solution is to manage fraud by deploying the appropriate range of tools and leveraging a skilled fraud prevention team. This white paper gives you an in-depth analysis of the current fraud landscape; it also illustrates how an experienced payment service provider like GlobalCollect can help you as a merchant to enjoy the financial benefits of selling online by implementing a customized fraud prevention strategy for your business model.

Click here to download your free personal copy of GlobalCollect’s latest White Paper.

About GlobalCollect
GlobalCollect is the world’s premier Payment Service Provider of local e-payment solutions for international Customer Not-Present (CNP) channels such as internet, mail, and telephone orders, and specializes in a wide range of industries such as travel, ticketing, telecommunications, retail, publishing, portals, online gaming, and digital content. While most providers limit their services to a technical link with payment acquirers, GlobalCollect is a full service partner consulting clients on how to increase transaction volumes, expand distribution channels, and reduce costs by streamlining back office processes. Through a single- interface online payment platform, we offer access to an unrivalled portfolio of local and international payment methods in over 200 countries, including all major credit and debit cards, direct debits, bank transfers, real-time bank transfers, eWallets, cash at outlets, prepaid methods, checks, and invoices.

This act was passed by the Singapore parliament in September in 1998. It will deals with the issues of certainty of electronic records and transactions. The ETA was drafted with the following principles:

(i) the need to conform to international standards and international model in order to be integrated with the global e-commerce framework;
(ii) the need to avoid over-regulation;
(iii)the need to be flexible and technologically neutral to adapt quickly to a free-flow global environment; and
(iv)the need for transparency and predictability in our laws.

The act also covers the following areas:
(i) electronic contracts
The section covers electronic contracts which are based on the UNCITRAL model laws. This part will settle the issue of how the formation form of contract in way of traditional should also be operated in e-commerce. It also will help us to solve the issue of the uncertainty of laws on electronic contracts. In addition, the act also clarifies the position of electronic contracts. In this part, the validity or enforceability can not be denied although the offer and acceptance is made by means of electronic records.

(iii) Electronic records and signatures,
Despite including provisions which deal with electronic secure records and signatures the act also mentioned that no record should be denied any legal effect just because it is a form of electronic record. Furthermore, the act also ensure that a secure environment for commercial transactions to take place. In this case, the parties must have some reasonable assurance that the electronic record, whether it takes the form of a contractual document or an electronic signature is identifiable with the originator. This is an essential ingredient in contractual liability. Then, the act also recognises digital signatures as one secure form of electronic transaction. Digital signatures allow parties the means with which to authenticate records for the purpose of conducting e-commerce transactions.

In conclusion, the government of Singapore had made attempt to strengthen the infrastructure
framework for electronic transactions in Singapore. To ensure the privacy in cyberspace is protected, the ETA was placed and it is a big step in e-commerce.

With social networking sites attracting unprecedented levels of traffic and interaction (overtaking even the likes of Google), Fasthosts’ Andy McLaughlin explores how small businesses can use this communication channel to create new business opportunities.

The age of the active surfer is in full swing and the exponential growth of social networking sites (UUHello, MySpace, Bebo, YouTube) is heralding a new dawn for tech savvy small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Today’s climate of online interactivity offers businesses an opportunity to supplement traditional, above the line marketing methods with tactical, targeted messaging aimed at influencing customer buying decisions.

But to realize the potential benefits offered, SMEs must first understand their environment. In the realms of user-generated content, money isn’t as important as the currency of style and approach – brands are measured by the same criteria as any other member of the community.

A world of interaction

By 2006, MySpace is the most visited website in the US with a reported 111m users, accounting for 5 per cent of all internet visits. Now facebook is catching up the market share and Linked in is specialized in high end professionals. Other social networking sites focused on SMEs are emerging like UUhello.com.

The constantly evolving content and easy interaction at the heart of the social networking experience has meant people are increasingly favouring these websites over traditional media.

Ofcom’s ‘The Communications Market 2006′ report last August showed that 16-24 year olds in the UK are watching an average of seven hours less TV a week, with the popularity of social networking sites being cited as the main reason behind this change.

Forums, podcasts, and blogs have all entered main stream culture. But while consumers have been quick to embrace these technologies, business adoption is only really starting to take off.

British-born Bebo has 25 million members worldwide, is the sixth busiest site in the UK and is threatening to knock Google off the top spot.

In terms of demographic, it is not only the young that use social networking sites. Ofcom’s 2006 communications market report also revealed that 41 per cent of all UK internet users aged 25 and over have a social website homepage. This is in addition to the 70 per cent of all 16-24 year olds signed-up to social networking sites.

The appeal of constant interaction and dynamic content has meant that the commercial value of these websites has become invaluable.

This is not for those willing to pay for banner advertising space on the networking sites, but also for brands prepared to experiment with communicating directly with community members through their own content contributions.

A new route to CRM?

Since anyone can be a member, including businesses, social networking sites offer SMEs an excellent opportunity to tailor campaigns and messaging aimed at community members.

By tapping into a culture of advice, relating good and bad experiences and relaying the latest news, brands can take advantage of the huge numbers of people using these sites. This promotes their product, and keeps readers informed of developments, launches and special promotions.

The possibility of a campaign making it ‘viral’ – with forum users and web page owners pushing content that catches their eye to other members of the community – is a mouth-watering prospect for small and large businesses alike.

Users of social network sites won’t shy away from letting people know about their positive buying experiences, and with the sheer number of people in the community, ‘word of mouse’ promotion has never had such reach.

Walking the content tightrope

Whilst the strength of brand positioning on social networking sites isn’t defined by ad spend, to get results SMEs need to keep content reader-friendly and their positioning understated in order to win the trust of an audience.

Those willing to dip their toe in, like Adidas, have found success by playing on specific themes such as football, tapping into popular culture. The company drafted in its glamorous troupe of footballing icons to provide engaging content, while successfully crow-barring in product placement.

Recording artists such as Lily Allen and The Arctic Monkeys have also profited from their social networking airtime, with the MySpace pages of these respective acts proving instrumental in breaking them into popular consciousness and driving sales.

If executed well, brand positioning on social networking can reap similar rewards and help SMEs to achieve sales growth, increased brand awareness and most importantly, endorsement amongst their target audience. But be warned.

If too little respect is paid to the conventions of the community, where quality content is essential for success, then the users of social networking sites can just as easily deliver a knockout blow to a business as they can champion it.

Messaging that’s shamelessly commercial, splashed with prices and provides little editorial value is likely to be met with negativity. In the eyes of community members this is no better than aggressive pop-up advertising.

SMEs making the net work

To take advantage of the social networking revolution, SMEs should start at home. By embracing some of the best characteristics of social networking for their own website, small businesses can capitalize on the appeal of interactive, dynamic content.

By maintaining a forum area or business blog, SMEs can interact and build relationships with potential and existing customers. A regularly maintained blog attached to a spokesperson for the company can help keep old customers informed of developments and attract new ones through regular, opinion-led content.

Not only is this a great way of personalizing the business and offering interesting, insightful comment, but a blog also has the potential to attract more traffic than a just run-of-the-mill ‘about us’ page.

Maintaining a forum area will also provide value by promoting discussion on product-related topics and giving businesses an insight on their target audience and how they should be approaching their customers.

From these first steps, SMEs will have the foundations to work out their niche within the major social networking sites, where they can experiment with putting a face to their business, or even attempting other creative ways of attracting interest in their product.

Finding the winning balance of intriguing content and product placement though is a challenge in itself.

A good example of the kind of approach that works well can currently be seen with General Motors’ fictitious band ‘The C.M.O.N.S’.

These 40-inch puppets designed by underground artist Boris Hoppek with input and backing from MTV are currently enjoying fevered cult status on and offline. It presents a tongue-in-cheek observation of rock band culture as well as featuring subtle product placement for Vauxhall’s Corsa range.

A word of warning

Entering the world of social networking also has the potential to do lasting damage to a business. A community member pouring scorn over a bad buying experience can be near-impossible to get rid of, even if it’s not tacked directly onto the business’ promotional page.

As long as businesses are aware of potential pitfalls, overall the benefits far outweigh the negatives. SMEs are best positioned to take advantage of social networking revolution.