Doing business on the Internet

For many companies, the Internet represents little more than a cheap communications link. These days, companies of all sizes are turning to the Internet to connect geographically distant sites, creating their own internetworked environment. The Internet is very well suited to this purpose, and companies of all sizes are stringing together “virtual” wide-area networks that feature all the security and tools typically associated with proprietary networks but at a fraction of the cost.
Many firms use the Internet to facilitate collaboration with clients. Already, some advertising agencies are not only sending ad page mock-ups over the Internet but also compressed video images and sound bites to clients across town, across the state, or around the globe.
Some of the most interesting companies, however, are those that view the Internet as an inexpensive vehicle for direct sales. Publishers are publishing huge site catalogs on the network, allowing anyone online to search and order desired titles. Catalog merchants are also getting into the act, setting up Gopher sites and World Wide Web versions of their catalogs to showcase product information and take orders electronically.
To be fair, the Internet still has a long way to go before it becomes as common¬place a business tool as the phone, fax, or printed advertisement. For one, the network’s infrastructure is still fraught with navigational and security problems. There are also cultural obstacles, such as the Internet community’s traditional aversion to anything that smacks of online commerce. For companies desiring to peddle goods and services online, there are other problems, too, such as figuring out how much to charge and how to collect from people who shop in what may be the world’s ultimate laissez-faire marketplace.
Ultimately, however, one of the biggest barriers to doing business on the Internet has nothing to do with the Internet itself. It’s the billions of consumers, businesses, and organizations worldwide that aren’t connected to the Internet and lack the equipment, skills, or desire to explore it. Although 20,000,000 Internet users may sound like a big number, it’s still a tiny fraction of the global marketplace.
In a sense, this may seem like a fatuous argument. Clearly, no single advertising, marketing, or promotional channel is going to reach 100 percent of the potential market, where the channel is television, radio, print media, or a World Wide Web home page. The reason we mention it is to emphasize that there are some people who are touting the Internet as the “next big thing,” the electronic heartbeat of ’90s commerce. We advise you to take this hype with a grain of salt while, at the same time, recognizing that the Internet still represents an exciting, new market¬place for a wide variety of businesses.
Savvy companies that zero in on niche markets and master the rules of online commerce can do a brisk business on the Internet—many are already.
The purpose of this post is to show you the wide variety of creative ways in which companies are using the Internet to enhance their businesses and to show how you, too, can tap the Internet for extra sales and profits.