ECnow.com 1999 trend #10: 1999 and 2000 will be the years of "show me the money", essentially companies will continue to demonstrate success with EC while small to medium enterprises (SME's) flock to the net
| ECMgt.com: Volume 1, Issue 01 - Show Me the Money ECnow.com 1999 trend #10: 1999 and 2000 will be the years of "show me the money", essentially companies will continue to demonstrate success with EC while small to medium enterprises (SME's) flock to the net | |
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Welcome to the premier issue of ECnow.com's ECMgt.com newsletter. We hope that this e-mail will be one you read right away or, at the least, put into the reading pile versus the proverbial circular file.
You can help us meet your needs by letting us know what you think about the premier issue and what you would like to see in upcoming newsletters. Please send e-mail to VMS3.Executive.Producer@ecnow.com. Each month we'll focus on a theme that centers around eCommerce trends. Relevant news stories will be broken into two categories:
We'll also include a feature article as well as feedback from our readers. So please, let us know what's on your mind.
I hope you enjoy this newsletter. Please send me your comments.
Best regards,
Mitchell Levy
President, ECnow.com <http://ecnow.com>
Your Link to Worldwide eCommerce Strategies
January 31, 1999 *Over 500 subscribers* Volume 1, No. 01
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Theme: Show Me the Money http://ecnow.com/top10trends1999.htm
ECnow.com trend #10: 1999 and 2000 will be the years of "show me the money", essentially companies will continue to demonstrate success with EC while small to medium enterprises (SME's) flock to the net
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Let me talk a bit about this month's trend. My #10 prediction for 1999 is that "1999 and 2000 will be the years of "show me the money", essentially companies will continue to demonstrate success with EC while small to medium enterprises (SME's) flock to the net".
I believe we'll see more companies issuing press releases sharing their stories of wealth through online sales and/or through streamlined business processes. Cisco, Dell, Marshall Industries, Schwab, Intel, and Fruit-of-the-Loom are just a few of the companies generating favorable "free" press about eCommerce benefits.
Instead of reading about the latest technology or standard that addresses a set of problems, we want to read about how companies have addressed their business issues. With Internet stocks soaring, traditional companies will continue to take advantage of this hunger by linking their companies to the Internet and by spinning off segments of their companies (as we've seen with Barnesandnoble.com and Compaq's Altavista.com).
A large number of SME's continue to sit on the sidelines waiting to see whether the Internet is just another passing fad. Those who read this newsletter know the Internet is here to stay.Companies willing to change the way they do business--streamlining their business processes via the Web--will likely see increased revenue streams and not find themselves blindsided by their competition.
We are currently looking for sponsors. Please feel free to call (408-257-3000) or e-mail Mitchell Levy (VMS3.Executive.Producer@ecnow.com) to discuss.
eBusiness Work Starts: setting up a Web commerce site or intranet was just the beginning
If 1998 was the year of Electronic Business Hype, 1999 may be remembered as the year of Electronic Business Hard Work. Virtually every company now has a Web site; most have intranets, and a growing number are doing business with customers or suppliers via extranets. But most still haven't fully integrated their legacy systems and business processes with online operations. That will change dramatically this year.
How We Will Buy Tomorrow: UPS chief sees consumer rule over business
A huge new wave of consumerism triggered by an explosion of electronic commerce will force businesses around the world to respond or get swept away.
The Next Generation
Don't believe the theory that all the really good Internet businesses already exist. Here's a look at five highly promising new markets - and the start-up companies in the best position to seize the opportunities. What makes a new company hot? Is it the investors? The buzz? The management? The office space? A clever idea? The quick answer is: none of the above.
AOL Reports $1.2 Billion in Holiday Shopping
America Online today went a long way toward dispelling any doubt that it is the big kahuna in online commerce. The company announced that it generated about $1.2B in holiday sales for its retail partners, which analysts say may represent as much as half the total amount spent online.
Online Shopping Taking Off in France
Internet shopping has soared in France, according to a seminar in Paris which announced the creation of an international institute bringing together communications and IT professionals.
Chinese Assess E-Commerce Potential
The Silicon Valley Journal's Internet Summit recently held in Taipei represented another milestone in China's acceptance and application of the Internet. Media tycoons and major Taiwanese Internet portal representatives met for the first time to discuss China's potential e-commerce market in the 21st century.
Positive Verdict for Internet Shopping (UK): We could be on brink of Internet shopping revolution
Shopping over the Internet is about to take-off in the UK according to a new report. Verdict, the retail research group, predicts that within five years more than £6bn worth of goods in the UK will be sold over the computer network, representing 2.5% of total retail sales.
Ernst & Young Reports Increase in Online Stores
Ernst & Young LLP yesterday released "Internet Shopping 1999", a special report sponsored by the National Retail Federation. The study reported a 300% increase in the number of retailers venturing into Internet commerce from 12% in 1997.
Five Lessons From the Holiday Shopping Season
The 1998 holiday shopping season was a blockbuster. Compared with 1997, online sales tripled -- to $13B -- according to the Boston Consulting Group. Traffic to America Online's Shopping Channel increased by 350%, says the Internet Research Group. And online buying by women -- historically more wary of online transactions -- rose dramatically, up 308%.
E-tailers Dash to Wild, Wild Web
There's a new battle cry on the Internet: "You've got sales." But the raft of would-be retailers rushing to the Web may end up with cyber-bruises. Entrepreneurs and established merchants alike, emboldened by sizzling holiday Web sales, are stampeding to introduce or enhance online offerings.
Web Shoppers Look for Ease of Use
What makes us trust a Web site enough to give it our credit card number? A new study finds that just as broken lights and dingy walls may make shoppers think twice about plunking down their money, "image not found" icons and dead-end navigation tools have the same effects online.
Five Unsexiest Businesses: Boring But Blooming Online
Electronic procurement. Data mining. Virtual private networks. Go ahead, admit it - the color drains from your face when you read those words. Maybe they aren't as cool as wireless, wearable computer headgear, but this year these boring technologies will enable tens of billions of dollars in Web commerce, streamline core business processes and connect people more easily and less expensively.
Real Force in E-Commerce Is Business-to-Business Sales
With all the recent noise about Internet shopping, it would be easy to assume that Amazon.com, CDNow and their top competitors are the true champions of e-commerce. The cold, post-holiday reality: they're not even in the major leagues.
3Com: eCommerce to Drive 80 percent of 1999 Revenues
Electronic commerce should generate about 80% of Internet equipment supplier 3Com Corporations's revenues in 1999, up sharply from 30% of revenue last year, 3Com President and COO Bruce Clavin said on Wednesday. Executives for 3Com estimated that the company's revenues would total about $6.5B in 1999. Clavin said 3Com can generate more of its sales through electronic networks because it will soon complete a two-year project to knit together its diverse computer operations using SAP software.
Nordstrom Brings Catalog Online
Cataloger/retailer Nordstrom Inc., Seattle, has brought online the first of its two catalogs, Nordstrom, The Catalog, which is fully available online at (http://www.nordstrom.com). Nordstrom 2nd Nature, features contemporary women's apparel, and will be completely online by Feb. 15. Nordstrom.com general manager Bob Schwartz says the expansion is a natural step in growing the site, which launched last Oct. 21, "We're pleased with the response of shoppers to Nordstrom.com so far, and are eager to be able to offer them a more extensive selection of merchandise. We think customers will appreciate the convenience of having more than triple the previous number of items from our catalogs now available to view online."
eCommerce: Old Line Moves Online
Steel, auto, and other established manufacturers are turning to Web commerce to open new markets and redefine existing ones. Business-to-business Internet commerce is moving well under the radar of overhyped online consumer shopping, steadily making its way into an unlikely sector: old-line manufacturing.
Book Delta-air.com and save $1
Delta Airlines, citing increased costs in traditional flight booking, said Wednesday it will begin levying a fee on domestic reservations -- but the fee won't apply to bookings over its Web site. Under the move, Delta (NYSE:DAL) will levy a $1 fee on each leg of a domestic journey, adding a $2 surcharge to a round-trip ticket. According to e-commerce analysts, though, Delta's attempt to encourage e-commerce could prove to be a publicity disaster.
Compaq Spins Off Alta Vista
One time owner Compaq Computer Corporation announced its spinoff of the Alta Vista Company, a Web search engine and portal business. In what is becoming a crowded field for competitors, AltaVista plans to be a leading contender as a destination site for information and eCommerce on the Internet. Rod Schrock of Compaq's "Instant Internet" fame who launched the Presario's keyboard button to the Internet will head the new company as president and CEO.
Visa, Yahoo Launch Online Shopping Guide
Consumer Payments Company, Visa International, and Internet search engine firm, Yahoo, announced its launch of a Web-based shopping guide featuring merchants targeting consumers in Asia. Yahoo's Asia site currently experiences an estimated 1 million visitors a month. Visa International hopes to initially get between 5% and 10% of these visitors. Approximately 200 merchants are linked to the guide, of which 25% were based in Singapore, according to Visa.
Mall Rats Migrate Online
It started with a couple of CDs for a couple of dollars. Then came the peppermint foot oil for Christmas. Now 15-year-old Tara Farmer buys boxes of Bonne Bell eyeliner wholesale on the Internet. Farmer doesn't have a credit card, but that doesn't stop her. In fact, the number of mall rats cruising online for CDs, clothes, and makeup will surge in coming years, giving brick-and-mortar malls a run for their money.
The Brewing War Over Office Supplies
Superstores, regional chains and Net start-ups all want to sell you paper and pencils over the Web. The battle could get ugly. The office supply superstore chains -- Office Depot, OfficeMax and Staples -- have changed the way businesses buy paper clips, copiers and fax machines, squeezing out many mom-and-pop operators in the process. As the industry moves to the Web, a second revolution looms.
eProcurement Solutions: Service from the Outside In
By Dolores McCrorey
First generation business-to-business Electronic Procurement took off in 1998 as companies looked for new ways to slash operating costs. Embracing costly high-end enterprise resource management, supply-chain, and eProcurement solutions from vendors such as SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, i2 Technologies, Ariba, and Commerce One, companies expect to begin reaping tangible benefits in 1999.
With 75 percent of Web transactions happening outside of the consumer's reach, business-to-business eCommerce is where the real Internet revolution is playing out. According to Forrester, businesses sold $43B worth of goods to each other in 1998. So it makes sense that customer service solutions currently dogging online retail shoppers could be worked out in the corporate arena first.
Companies and eVendors positioned to apply technology in ways that drive customer satisfaction to new levels could discover an additional source of revenue--growing their existing business through customer retention.
'Show me the service' is our hot pick to accompany 'show me the money', as savvy mass-market consumers raise the bar on e-service expectations--at home and at work.
A number of corporate e-service products exist on the market today in support of this direction. Aditi's Talisma 1.0 email and Web form manager tool for online customer service, threads a conversation so that everything you've done with a customer is recorded; an audit trail always appears when you open a customer file. Talisma 1.0 allows you to retrieve management reports based on the email that comes in.
For example, a corporate purchasing agent could set up an intranet with email threads by individual eVendor, posting online monthly reports that track service levels by supplier.
Second generation eCommerce procurement will look different. The rise of eVendors will signal additional opportunities for companies to streamline operations and continue to improve customer satisfaction. These companies will look to utilize their employee base as an extension of the procurement function through the smart application of technology.
Online suppliers could utilize the same model in monitoring customer issues. Second generation eVendors such as W.W. Grainger, provider of outsourced Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) solutions to the likes of American Airlines and Procter and Gamble, provides complete solutions for their customers--all via the Web.
eVendors able to reduce their operational costs, pass these savings on to their customers, and increase customer satisfaction levels will stand a better than average chance at grasping the eCommerce grail in 1999.
Companies mentioned in this article:
Embedded Chip Technology to Boost eCommerce Adoption
Support is growing on the part of electronic-commerce vendors to use a hardware security solution in desktop systems. Such a system would create so-called "trusted clients," taking the place of server-side security, and would facilitate secure online sales of content and intellectual property.
E-Mail Boom Boosts Interest In ``E-Post Offices''
The growing popularity of e-mail is raising the profile of some companies that function like ``e-post offices,'' providing the technical support for group e-mail accounts so that individual businesses do not have to.
Email Marketing Done Right
Email is indeed the killer app for 1999. But only, of course, if it's email done right. And there is a right way, and a very wrong way, to do approach email marketing.
CommerceNet Announces UK's First Smartcard Testing
CommerceNet today announced that it is to conduct the UK's first independent, industry-wide, Smartcard Interoperability Testing. As part of this process, CommerceNet intends to develop a working group of all major players in the Smartcard production industry, together with third party developers of Smartcard applications and services, and end users.
It is estimated that by 2002, 3.85 billion Smartcards will be in use worldwide, with Europe being by far the largest market. With wide-spread consumer acceptance imminent, it is imperative that UK industry unites to formulate open and efficient Smartcard technologies.
CyberCash Upgrades Its E-Payment Software
Microsoft's upgraded Site Server Commerce software now provides enhanced security for processing payments over the Internet including ease-of-use functionality for developers integrating settlement transactions into backend systems. CyberCash software allows online merchants to add real-time payment processing to new and existing Site Server Commerce storefronts.
Jupiter Advises Online Retailers to Embrace Auctions
Jupiter Communications announced its research findings that indicate auctions would provide online retailers with better results in liquidating excess inventory than traditional fixed-price discounting. Jupiter, a leading Internet consulting company, projects online auction purchasers in the U.S. to grow from 1.2M in 1998 to 6.5M in 2002.
GeoCities To Turn "GeoCitizens" into eCommerce Resellers
Internet community mega-site, GeoCities (Nasdaq: GCTY), announced on Wednesday that it will enable its 3.3 million personal Web page owners, known as "GeoCitizens," to earn commissions from products they place for sale on their Web pages.
Affiliate Programs: Bonanza or Bust?
Affiliates programs (also called associates or referral programs) are often both the pride and sorrow of the Internet. The positive side is that they enable successful Internet corporations to increase sales and product exposure by having text/graphical links on many other Web sites.
Ideally, the relationship with these other Web sites is a symbiotic one; in return for providing this extra advertising, the affiliate will obtain revenues (generally in the 10%-15% range) from the sales processed by the parent company that came through the affiliate's site. However, there are two important negative aspects associated with signing up for one of these programs which must be considered.
PeopleSoft Charts eBusiness Strategy
Peoplesoft Inc. announced last week an electronic business road map aimed at providing more avenues for companies to interact with their customers and suppliers on the Web.
IBM Upgrades E-Commerce Messaging Software
IBM's next generation of its MQSeries messaging software integrates publish-and-subscribe messaging features, improved scalability, and ease of use systems administration with its enhanced graphical user interface.
Trends fueling the demand for MQSeries and related integration software include the growing volume of online business that necessitates greater security, reliability, Web-enabling of existing applications, business integration, and customer relationship management to name a few.
Bank of America Offers Fingerprint Access to Online Banking
Bank of America Wednesday rolled out a new pilot program that uses fingerprint recognition to give individuals access to their online banking services. Before using the system, the bank stores a customer's online banking login, passcode and fingerprint on the chip attached to a multi-application smart card. The customer then follows a customary login process to access banking information over the Internet.
iShip Announces New E-Commerce Shipping Service
Welcome relief for small businesses and entrepreneurs selling online. iShip, a Web-based shipping service designed specifically for e-commerce, plans to go live in late February. Initially iShip will target the needs of low volume shippers, such as small Web stores and individuals selling via Web auctions or classified ads on the Internet. In the near future the company intends to expand its service to meet the more demanding needs of larger Web stores.
EBay Launches Anti-Fraud Measures
EBay, which already uses some creative self-policing measures to prevent fraud on its auction site, introduced additional measures to keep the service secure as the number of its users grows.
Please call (408-257-3000) or e-mail Mitchell Levy (VMS3.Executive.Producer@ecnow.com) to discuss sponsorship opportunities.
Please feel free to call (408-257-3000) or e-mail us (VMS3.Executive.Producer@ecnow.com) with your questions, comments or input suggestions for the next issue.
***If you can remain calm, you just don't have all the facts.***
CommerceNet Barriers and Inhibitors Survey
http://www.commerce.net/resources/barriers99/
What barriers do small business owners face when considering Internet commerce?
CommerceNet is currently conducting a survey to determine the answer to just that question. Conducted online, the survey covers general barriers and specific barriers by type of user and barriers to small- and medium-sized enterprises considering Internet commerce initiatives. The survey ends on February 28th, 1999. Participants in the survey will receive a copy of the report when it is released this spring.
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