Posted on: 28 November, 2001
Author: Jennifer Stewart
US business-to-business e-commerce will hit $2.7 trillion in 2004 and more than 90%of firms interviewed described plans to buy and sell on the Internet, according to arecent Forrester Research study.T... US business-to-business e-commerce will hit $2.7 trillion in 2004 and more than 90%of firms interviewed described plans to buy and sell on the Internet, according to arecent Forrester Research study.The study, "e-Marketplaces Boost B2B Trade," reports that B2B growth will beaccelerated by the development of e-Marketplaces - new models for conductinge-commerce - such as auctions, exchanges, aggregators and bid systems. By 2004,Forrester expects these e-Marketplaces to capture 53% of all online business trade.Hand in hand with this development in B2B, is the estimate that Internet sales(business to customer) will top $1.35 trillion in the US by the year 2003. (Source:Masha E. Geller, MediaPost http://www.mediapost.com )Many netrepreneurs have already taken steps to hitch their wagon to this rising starand have said goodbye to the traditional shop front, and hello to the cybermall.A cybermall can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can sell tocustomers in every country in the world - if they have an Internet connection.Nielsen/NetRatings figures show that more and more people are connecting to theInternet every month - in the US, 122.7 million people (aged 2 years and older) hadaccess to the Internet in January 2000. This had increased to 123.6 million in the firstweek of March 2000.With a world population of 6 billion, it's easy to see why businesses are excited by theprospect of cybermalls.Instead of battling with the rising costs of rent, staff wages, advertising, packing andshipping, and dealing with the problems of tracking down stock and suppliers - thisnew development in e-commerce allows an individual to set up a complete web-basedbusiness in less than 48 hours and receive commissions of 3% to 25% on all salesmade from the site.One such cybermall is http://www.aShop4All.com. It aims to offer, "simply the bestvirtual one-stop shop," according to CEO, John Freeman. "We should have completeda women's forum, chat line and a consumer contest by the third week of March," hesays. This will complement the wide range of cyber stores already part of the mall. "It'spossible for customers to meet all their shopping needs from this one site," saysFreeman, "from flowers and gifts, books and games, furniture and clothes to officesupplies, financial services and banking, travel arrangements and auctions - there areeven employment services at aShop4All.com." The inspiration for this concept dates back to 1997, when Freeman's company wasdeveloping and producing bespoke software and building websites; this was followedby the development of software and hardware to upgrade computer systems for Y2K.These products were certified by the consultant laboratories to the UK Government,the State Pentagon and companies such as GEC Marconi."It was during this period of time that we realized that with the growth of the Internetand e-commerce, niche marketing on the Web would be very limited because of thevolume of new users and websites being registered," says Freeman. "We could seethat one-stop shopping sites would be the venue of choice for consumers. Everyoneknows that the info on search engines is fragmented and the biggest complaint onehears is that it takes too long to find anything, with our concept, if you're looking for agolf ball you will have a number of outlets to choose from - our software enablescomparisons to be made and the best buy found - the consumer is the big winner." This view has been supported by recent reports into e-commerce with ForresterResearch, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) stating that e-Marketplaces must evolve from today'sisolated niche offerings to become highly interconnected one-stop shops - or suffer theconsequences; and the National Retail Federation 2000 Conference in January thisyear highlighting the challenges and opportunities facing online retailers. More than50% of major retailers are still unable to take online orders, according to findingspresented.This is where programs such as that offered by Freeman shine - entrepreneurs canacquire sophisticated marketplace software or entirely offload the building of their Websites to an experienced e-commerce integrator like aShop4all.com and be at theforefront of e-commerce developments.The Internet has achieved in marketing in just four years, what it took radio forty yearsand television fourteen years to achieve. Anyone can now be a part of the Internetexplosion without being an expert, just by becoming an aShop4All partner. Americansspent 57.5 billion minutes online in January 2000 (according to a Media Metrix Top 50At-Home and At-Work combined Digital Media and Web audience ratings report). Theresearch firm says each person surveyed spent an average of 13.2 hours online duringthe month - that's a captive audience in anyone's language and justifies theenthusiasm of business people like Freeman. "A cybermall can be set up for as littleas $300 - how many businesses require such a small capital outlay?" he says. "AtaShop4All.com, we take care of all the details. The entire site is ready to start makingmoney and is continuously updated with new products. It's an ideal way for people tostart their e-commerce experience."The last word belongs to Bill Gates, reported as saying, "By 2002 there will be twotypes of businesses - those on the Net and those out of business." Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com