eCAS and Association of Electronic Industries in Singapore (AEIS) has signed a Memorandum of  Understanding to promote and provide  eCommerce services and capabilities to AEIS members. Areas of collaboration include training in eCommerce, information support and eCommerce services.

For further details please contact +65 68359885 or email services@ecommercesg.org

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

The site http://ecommerce.org.sg/ is not the website of eCAS and does not represent eCAS in anyway.

The three day event drew many visitors to eCAS booth and many good leads were generated.

In the words of Mr Kwa Eng Kiat, Deputy Director (Media Devliery and E-Commerce), KDDI Singapore :

“We would like to thank you for allowing us to use your booth during the Internet Show in the past 2.5 days. It was very useful and we have established some potential customers leads.  We appreciate your support and look forward to have continual activities and support with E-commerce Association in future.”

Samuel Neo, Secretary General of eCAS and Harry He of GT Payment Pte Ltd at the eCAS booth

eCAS continues to support The interNet Show 2011 for the secodn year conseceutively. Visit us at the eCAS booth at Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre Hall 404 from 13 to 15 April 2011.

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.