E-Commerce Business Consolidates
Dominion's purchase included PSN's building in Sussex, Wis. PSN's three founders - Nick Avgoulas, Kevin Brandenburg and Steve Weiner - plan to stay on for at least a year, according to Avgoulas.
E-Commerce: Fortunes waiting to be made
E-commerce includes both business-to-business (b2b) and business-to-consumer (b2c) elements, but it is in the former category that the real money lies. The most advanced African nations in terms of e-commerce revenues is South Africa, where B2B e-commerce revenues amounted to R2.4 billion in 2000. Business-to-consumer e-commerce in Africa is just beginning to bloom. While there is an undeniable potential for million-dollar e-commerce revenues in Africa, Internet commerce is still at an embryonic stage. Analysts say that African can only really expect to join the e-commerce revolution in about 10 years time.
The new shape of e-commerce
Foundries and suppliers recognize that inefficiencies in business, especially in sales and procurement, can be addressed by e-commerce. Consortiums-online hubs comprised of several foundries pooling resources together through major contracts that benefit each party-- will likely increase as foundries discover the advantages of combining their buying power. Consortiums have an added benefit of keeping individual foundries' costs down and creatine a stronger voice for the industry.
Does online shopping really make cents?
E-commerce, without question, is big news today and will be even bigger news in the next few years. Purchase considerations for your business or office should involve not only dollar costs, but also transaction costs, which include total employee time involved. The costs of organizing and operating a business can sometimes be greater than the savings made by reducing transaction costs. That seems to be the situation with many startup online sellers. Transaction costs include any costs, including the cost of time, associated with deciding what to buy, placing the order, receiving delivery, making payment, and getting the product or service to the end user. Many corporations today purchase from only a few suppliers, usually online, with as little human intervention as possible. For now, online purchasing may not be as efficient for you as more traditional forms of procurement. In the meantime, compare your total costs ordering the traditional way with total costs of ordering online, including transaction costs in both instances.
New strides in fraud-free online shopping
Credit card issuers pinned their fortunes a few years ago on the Internet's economy's muscle. Yet, many Internet users still sit on the sidelines, willing to browse but reluctant to purchase online for fear of having their account numbers - or worse, their identities - stolen. Both Visa USA and MasterCard are rolling out identity check offerings. Verified by Visa is an answer to the question of how to authenticate online buyers to online sellers, without sacrificing adoption rates and business potential. MasterCard's planned identity check approach is reportedly more detailed.
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