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 Amazon.Com
is an online book retailer that is valued at $120 million. It is one
of the most successful examples on the Internet. Within a few months
of starting it became the largest book store in the world. They encourage
participation by inviting shoppers to submit book reviews. The UK
version of Amazon.Com is Book Pages. This company has a loyalty points
scheme to encourage customers to come back and therefore create a
community around their site.
Computer manufacturers Dell sells over two million dollars worth of equipment every day. Its success is due to using a built to order model. This allows customers to purchase a bespoke computer which has been built according to their specification. E.g. this amount of internal memory, that size of hard disk and the other type of casing. These details are all submitted and processed on-line. Another great success in the UK has been Internet Music Shop. This is an online retailer of music CD's. The business which was launched in May 1996 has been valued at £2.2 million. They have succeeded in creating a strong online community around their site with 40% of their orders coming from existing customers. Their site attracts 1000 visitors a day, and from this number 5% place orders. This is way above the industry standard in mail order which is one to two per cent. This goes to show the power of the Internet as a sales channel - when things are done right! You shouldn't forget the international aspect of your business either. A US clothing company sold US$350 million in Japan without having a single office or employee in that country. Obviously this will be inspiring to the many manufacturing companies and their representative companies. More traditional businesses are also finding success on the Internet. In the US which precedes the UK in business trends - many small businesses are finding that 40% - 50% of their business is now coming from the Internet. However a surprising success story was that of a local butcher who started selling speciality meats through the Internet and the business took off to such a degree that he closed down his shop and now trades exclusively over the Internet. The diversity of businesses that can and are currently benefiting from the Internet is endless |
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