As important as breathing

"Any company, old or new, that does not see this technology as important as breathing could be on its last breath." - Jack Welch, US former chairman and CEO of General Electric.

E-commerce, as we have learnt in lecture, involves digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organisations and individuals. This would mean the exchange of value across organisational or individual boundaries in return for products or services mediated by digital technology.

More simply put, 'e-commerce is the function of creating exchange (i.e., buying and selling) over digital media." (Kalakota and Robinson, 1999)

As of 1995, the growth of business to consumers (B2C) e-commerce has increased almost exponentially. The same can be said for business to business (B2B) e-commerce since 2001. Many companies have certainly been drawn to e-commerce.

So, how do we ensure success in e-marketing?

I think the most important factor would be search marketing, either via Pay Per Click (PPC) or organic search marketing (Search Engine Optimisation - SEO). Now that near to everything is digitalized, almost everyone uses the search engine. With search marketing, a list of websites appear with the click of a button. Of course, they are things to take note of even with search marketing. Keywords and content should be chosen wisely so that they are relevant. Especially with PPC, each click by consumers costs a certain amount of money. Companies definitely do not want to spend money on those who do not want to buy their products.

Customization is also important. This is one of the 6C's of customer power. Just as most of us want personalisation, customers want things to belong uniquely to them as well. This applies even to e-commerce. If customers are able to specify product categories of interest and are exposed only to those categories, this saves them a lot of time which makes their shopping experience a lot more enjoyable.

Navigational structure should be convenient and easy to use as well to ensure the well-functioning of the site.

Details about their companies should be included so that consumers know that they are trustworthy. "Allow customers to like you by knowing more about you."

There should be contact details too, so that consumers can contact the companies should they have any queries. This would mean office numbers, email addresses and even physical addresses. Include the time that you're able to take calls so that customers do not call at inappropriate times.

It would be best if testimonials from existing customers are provided so that they act as "proof that you deliver". This is very useful to a company's reputation. Guarantees, price matches and free returns can also be added so that consumers do not have to compare the prices with other websites manually.

Legal information is important so that terms and conditions, and privacy policies are reflected in black and white. Should there be any legal disputes, such information act as back-up.