E-Commerce Business Integration

By virtue of its similarities, the scope of operation for E-Commerce is nearly as broad as traditional commerce. E-Commerce includes both traditional activities (e.g. providing product information) and new activities (e.g. conducting online retail in virtual malls, publishing digital information).
Some of the common operations that define E-Commerce are specific business-to-business and business-to-customer interactions, such as:

Information exchange
(1) Goods or services trading
(2) Sales promotion and advertising
(3) Online digital content delivery
(4) Electronic funds transfers and transaction processing
(5) Electronic share trading
(6) Electronic bill of lading processing
(7) Collaborative work interaction
(8) Manufacturing management
(9) Accounts settlement
(10) Online sourcing
(11) Public procurement
(12) Direct consumer marketing
(13) Inventory management
(14) Post-sales service
(15) Commercial auctions

Although every E-Commerce implementation will differ, most SMEs focus operation on:
(1) Product promotion via online catalogues
(2) Transaction processing (exchanging digitized monetary information)
(3) Customer Support.

E-Commerce conducted over the Internet differs from typical commercial activity in that it is influenced by the unique characteristic of the medium itself. In contrast to print media, E-Commerce is dynamic, allowing users to interact with the commercial site, send comments, and even define the scope of a document. Unlike person-to-person commerce, E-commerce allows for a controlled interaction between vendor and potential purchaser, where the vendor may strategically direct the customer through a series of options and processes. E-Commerce also differs from traditional commerce by its boundless relation to time and space. Interaction is not restricted to normal working hours or geopolitical borders. There is potential to conduct business with other merchants and consumer around the world in different time zones, 7days a week, 24 hours a day.
In the short-term, entry into E-Commerce may offer a competitive advantage over slower to act competitors. The market for E-Commerce is growing, as more consumers and business gain Internet access and transaction processing technologies improve security. Companies that establish an operation today, still in the early stages of Internet based E-Commerce, will have a fuller understanding of the issues and be better prepared to capitalize on emerging technologies when E-Commerce markets open up in the next few years.

The benefits of E-Commerce to a small business may include capabilities to:
(1) Extend the range of sales territory
(2) Streamline communication to suppliers and clients
(3) Expand reach to new clients
(4) Improve service to existing clients
(5) Reduce paperwork and time spent on correspondence
(6) Track customer satisfaction
(7) Expedite billing
(8) Improve collaboration on work projects
(9) Expand markets beyond geographical, national boundaries
(10) Leverage legacy data
(11) Improve inventory control, order processing
(12) Establish position in emerging E-Commerce marketplace
(13) Lower costs of overhead
(14) Realize economies of scale by increasing sales volume to new markets
(15) Monitor competition and industry trends
(16) Improve or expand products lines – locate new suppliers, products that could be included in catalogue.