eCommerce for Import Export Companies
This year, according to eMarketer, one billion people worldwide will have Internet access and nearly 250 million households will have broadband. Although, Asia accounts for 56 percent of world population, but only 10 percent has access to the Internet at present. With the rapid economic development of Asian countries this figure will increase dramatically in the coming years. This ubiquitous presence of the Internet is forcing companies to embrace the Internet as a marketing and sales channel aggressively. Many companies have adopted Internet based technologies to streamline their crucial business processes and benefiting enormously from it. Import Export companies are no difference! Most export import companies are using the Internet to augment customer base, tap into new markets, research competitors, find new products and evaluate country opportunities. However, many of these same companies are still slow in implementing eBusiness features in their daily business activities and, as a result, fail to garner true value from the use of the Internet. Trading companies – those which are still not doing online business transactions – should follow the examples of their retail counterparts and adopt eCommerce strategies. According to a recent study conducted by Forrester Research, retail sales are expected to rise 20 percent to US$ 211.4 billion – a two fold increase from only three years ago. Whether you are in exporting or importing business it does not make any difference, by using eCommerce and adding some of the basic eBusiness functions to your website you can also profit from this trend. Electronic commerce is the process of selling products through the Internet. There are two distinct segments of eCommerce – Business to Business and Business to Consumers. Retailers are mostly involved in B2C and import export traders are often more in the B2B sector. That’s why you need to realize that the components of eCommerce you may need in your website will be based on your business specifics. In general, all eCommerce sites are a combination of some of the following business functionalities: - An eCatalog so that buyers can browse through the products you have to offer
- Product specification that gives detailed technical and delivery information
- A feature that allows sending request for quote online (RFQ)
- A product order placing system – normally a shopping cart
- Ability to view order status
- Sending a notification if a new product added to the catalogue which was requested by a prospective buyer
- At least one payment method. For small orders you should have a merchant account.
- Purchase order sending ability. Buyers should be able to send PO for the products readily available or the contracts already negotiated with you.
- Billing system should generate invoices automatically
Once you implemented these features there is virtually no geographic restriction on where you can sell your products. If you are an export company you may consider translating your eCommerce site to the language of your targeted market.This gives you an extra ability to leverage your sales endeavour. Benefits of eCommerce Increase revenue: By implementing eCommerce you are opening a new sales channel. Study shows, a well prepared eCommerce strategy can increase sales from mere 10 percent to several times within the first six month of implementation. There is a possibility that order size per customer will also increase thanks to some eCommerce functionalities like advanced eCatalog, Notification service, order status viewing system and ability to offer related products. Expand client base: Depending on the exposure of your site, you can acquire customers from every corner of the world. You are no longer confined to any geographic area. Reach niche market segments: You can market your eCommerce site by pin pointing a specific market segment with the help of the Internet. Lower operating costs: Your eCommerce site will eliminate or reduce workloads of sales and support force. Marketing on the Internet is significantly cheaper than in offline world. You will also benefit from lower telecommunication costs, losses incurred from document errors, inventory and sales management costs. This will have direct impact on your company bottom line. Better customer service: The ability to provide decisive information, real time interaction with customers and customer relationship management functionalities allow you to serve your customers better and help increase customer retention. Enhance your company image: A well-managed, robust and user-friendly eCommerce site enhances positive image of a company. Are you ready for eCommerce? Before you implement an eCommerce plan, you need to figure out as an exporter or importer how viable it is for you right now? Are you going to receive the benefits mentioned above? Will the customers from different geographical locations benefit from your new service channel? How critical is a well-described product specification for your customers? Any company how small or big it is from an eCommerce site no doubt it will benefit immensely. But the question is, are you ready to commit enough time and money to make your new venture successful? Developing your eCommerce site Depending on the type of eCommerce site you are planning to build it might take somewhere from three months to over a year. There are several ways of starting an eCommerce site. Building in house: You should consider developing your eCommerce site in house only if you have significant experience in this field. In order to build a successful eCommerce site you will need a team of experts in programming, designing, copy writing, and, most importantly, a project manager with the knowledge of your business model, enough technical proficiency and experience so that the system gets developed on time with expected business functionalities. Outsourcing: There is no doubt that outsourcing is more cost effective and less time consuming for most of the companies. The only thing is you have to choose the organization which will build your site carefully and professionally. Using web stores: If you are constrained by time or would like to take advantage of eCommerce immediately you can also get eCommerce site from online service providers. These web stores have all the needed functionalities for a true eCommerce site. Some of them are also capable of providing supply chain management and other key business automation abilities. Check out sites like Rusbiz.com While implementing eCommerce strategy you need to remember that eCommerce just enhances and complements your present business model but the fundamentals of your business remain the same. However, eCommerce with it’s innate flexible nature may open new business horizons for you with all the risk and reward implications.
Other Trading System Articles
Commodity Investing – Targeting 30-50% Annual Profits There are plenty of people who will manage a commodity investment for you, but you need to choose carefully as most lose!This article is all about picking a manager or doing it yourself via a software program and targeting the big gains that make commodity investing so lucrative.Risk & RewardCommodity investing by its very n ...E-currency Trading: A Great Investment System Many people today feel like they don’t have enough money in their lives. These days having only one stream of income isn’t enough. People are always looking for more. Life is getting expensive. People want to be able to go out and do what they want, take vacations, have fun, and in general enjoy life. The problem is that they usually don’t have ...The Money Management Question: How Much Can I Lose? Disciplined money management makes the difference between success and failure in investing. When considering an investment, too many people ask, "How much can I make?" That's the wrong question. The right question is "How much can I lose?"Let's take the stock market for example (although proper money management applies to all investments) ...Learn To Like Your Losses Sounds almost morbid doesn't it?Well, maybe it is....but losses are a fact of life and your ability to take them systematically without fault is key to your long term success.You see, every system ever designed and traded has suffered losing trades and most have had several losing trades in a row. Even short term systems that pur ...Trading Forex with Pivot Points Pivot Points are calculated on the previous days move and trades are entered when the market hits a support or resistance line of the pivot point providing your OB/OS indicator is in agreement. All the support and resist lines are put in place 1st thing in the morning. then you wait for the market to hit those entry Points.Contrary to wha ...The Switzerland of Asia Shines In many respects, Singapore is the Switzerland of Asia.Begun in 1819 as a British trading colony, the Republic of Singapore was founded in 1965 under the leadership of the current Prime Minister’s father, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. While it is only 1/5 the size of Rhode Island and three times the size of Washington D.C., it is perhaps the m ...Forex Day Trading Systems Usually, we associate trading with purchasing a commodity, bringing it home or to our business premises, and then selling it. Similarly, we purchase stocks and shares in the stocks and shares market, hold them until their value increases and then sell them off.Times have changed, and now trading can be done on a daily or even hourly basis ...Mechanical Trading Systems - Spotting the Ones That Make Money! Mechanical trading systems are, as you would expect, systems that make trading decisions for you.The thought of having mechanical trading systems you can simply use to generate automatic profits, is obviously very attractive to many traders.Most traders however, end up disappointed with mechanical trading systems, as they never see ...Learn FOREX Trading in 6 Simple Steps This article is for anyone who wants to learn FOREX trading with the view to making big profits.It’s a well-known fact that anyone can learn FOREX trading - but very few traders make big profits.Here we are going to show you how to learn the basics and apply them with the right mindset to succeed.The Six Steps:1. Atti ...High Living through Plain Thinking Gone are the days when people would be satisfied with plain living and high thinking. This is an age when everyone wants to achieve high living with a little bit of plain thinking, or even better – with no thinking at all. And most of the time, it doesn't work out.You would rather spend your time on the couch, in front of the plasma TV sh ...Arbitrage Trading Software Surebetpro If you are looking for a way to work from home or the office stop looking and please stop wasting your money on programs that do not work, and are scams to get your money. What I am about to tell you will not make you a millions of dollars in a weeks time or a month. What I can tell you though is that this is a REAL business that pays you and is ...Spot Uranium Price Creeps Up to $61/Pound as Buyers Begin to Worry About Supply TradeTech published the weekly spot uranium price indicator of $61/pound, for the week ending November 10th in Friday’s edition of “Nuclear Market Review.” It is posted on the Trade Tech website. But, judging from the number of utilities seeking U3O8 equivalent, it is unlikely spot price increases will stall or stabilize at this level. Nor will ...What's the .382 Fibonacci Ratio in Forex Trading? It was mentioned in a past article that Fibonacci forex trading is the basis of many forex trading systems used around the world by profitable forex traders. These systems are all based on the famous Fibonacci ratios (.236, .50, .382, .618, etc.) and each of them can specialize in a particular ratio along with other minor indicators in order to ...Losses, Not Profits, Will Stop You from Trading in the Market Should the market turn against you, it is important that you design a system that will produce as much loss as you are prepared to take. This loss, known as drawdown, is the maximum amount by which your trading float will temporarily drop at anytime. Doing this in advance, will help you avoid nasty surprises in the future. This gives you the ...Learn E-Currency Exchange To Make Money: Is this a Scam? Should you attempt to learn e currency exchange trading if the system a is just scam? Is what many courses like Matt Gagnon's mazu are promoting a scam? If not, why are there rumors of e currency exchange being a scam?If you have asked yourself questions along these lines then I highly recommend you keep reading my review for whether you ...How to Make Big Profits with Currency Trading Systems Currency trading systems have become more popular than ever in recent years.Here we will look at the advantages of currency trading systems and how to pick one that's right for you.Trend Following the Key to Big ProfitsAs economic cycles of boom and bust take years, so do currency trends that mirror the health of the economy ...Bartering Online Online bartering has been going on for at least ten years. High profile websites that feature the service have been online for at least five years; a little surfing reveals that they are going through a process of consolidation and realignment.There are a couple of models for online barter. A few sites charge substantial fees for member m ...E-currency Exchange Trading If you are reading this article you are probably one of the many people who have spent countless hours searching for unique ways to make money on the internet. Very few people have gone on to succeed and most have failed miserably time and time again.So how are some people succeeding? The answer is quite simple; they are finding a busin ...Forex Trading – Five Tips to Make Money Fast! This article is all about FOREX trading to make you rich - and we’re going to give some alternatives to conventional investment wisdom. Why? - Because most traders in FOREX follow the norm and make average gains - while this article is about making spectacular gains from FOREX Trading and making money fast!The AimHere we are going ...Currency Exchange: How To Use It and What It Can Do For You I can tell you this, this is definitely not a business that will make you rich overnight, so if your sitting there in your lazy chair hoping that you can just throw in $25 and expect to be a millionaire in a week this is definitely not for you!. I CAN tell you this though given a little patients and time you can profit substantially over the l ...Discover the Biggest Trading & Investing Online Mistake Any online investor / trader seeks an excellent off or online future trading career opportunity. Despite this goal, did you know 95 percent of all traders go broke within the first two months? Why do investors lose vast amounts of wealth in one or more of the following markets – option trading, forex trading or currency trading, stock trading, ...BBC Tasks The BBC was formed in nineteen twenty six as a public company. It was recognized by an act of legislative body, Royal Charter, and a declaration about what the administration is and what the main purposes of it are. BBC has numerous objectives which it has to fulfil. Over the years he BBC has in addition become more commercialized as they are ...How to Make Money Today for Tomorrow Many people looking to make money want the easy way out, and that just aren’t going to happen. There is no “easy money” if there was trust me I would be doing it. Most people think it’s hard to make money when indeed it’s not that hard. Sure it will take time and work but so does everything else.Investing is one of the biggest things that ...Trade Entry Techniques Most traders tend to concentrate on pinpointing the perfect entry for a trade. However, in reality the entry price is just one part of the equation. The common entry techniques are:Channel BreakoutsA trend trader will tend to use channel breakouts to enter trades in order to catch a trend when it is beginning. The general ...
| 