FREE ESSAY ON FROM BRICK AND MORTAR TO CLICK AND MORTAR:

FROM BRICK AND MORTAR TO CLICK AND MORTAR:

FROM BRICK AND MORTAR TO CLICK AND MORTAR:
MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM CONVENTIONAL BUSINESS
TO ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
FROM BRICK AND MORTAR TO CLICK AND MORTAR:
MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM CONVENTIONAL BUSINESS TO E-COMMERCE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summary 1
Making the Transition from Conventional Business to E-Commerce 4
Introduction 4
Background 4
Problem Definition 5
Hypothesis 6
Methodology 6
Research Design 6
Sources of Data 7
Research Results 7
The Question is Not Whether or When to Enter E-commerce; It's How to Enter E-Commerce. 7
E-commerce Benefits 11
Lessons Learned 12
A Proposed Model for Developing an E-Commerce Strategy 14
Introduction. 14
Prerequisites. 16
The key rule of E-commerce. 17
Steps for building an E-commerce strategy. 18
Typical stages of E-commerce development. 25
Steps for establishing a small business website. 26
Selling Power ? Enters E-Commerce 28
A Javier Romero Design Group Web Implementation Plan 33
Analysis 35
Selling Power analysis. 35
JRDG analysis. 35
Research Limitations 36
Conclusions 37
Bibliography 39
Appendix.....................................................................................................
A-1
Summary
The scenario created for this project called for the research team to simulate membership
on the staff of a small, "brick and mortar" firm. A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) heads
the firm, and she is the primary decision maker for the firm. The CEO is inclined to
pursue a venture into E-commerce, but neither she nor her staff members have experience
or knowledge in this area. To help her make some decisions, the CEO asks three staff
members to form a team to research E-commerce and make a recommendation on whether she
should pursue E-commerce opportunities.
The objective of this research is to provide the CEO with a reasonable recommendation to
either pursue some form of E-commerce or to remain with her current brick and mortar
model. Because there are constraints with respect to cost/benefit analyses, there are two
research questions to be answered: (a) Should the CEO venture into E-commerce, and (b) if
she should, what should she do to initiate her E-commerce venture? 
The research revealed that E-commerce is expanding quickly, and the potential benefits
from participating are enormous. It also indicated that businesses that are reluctant to
participate in E-commerce risk falling behind their competitors or becoming
non-competitive in their existing market. For those that do wish to enter into
E-commerce, the task should not be taken lightly. An organization requires a visionary
leader, perseverance, a significant investment, the ability to establish partnerships
with successful firms, and full participation from the entire organization. They must
also recognize that E-commerce focuses on serving the customer, not pushing their
products.
Successful E-commerce entrepreneurs become successful by developing strategic plans. At a
minimum, a strategic plan should address methods for accomplishing the following five
steps: (a) make it easy for your customers to conduct business, (b) focus on your true
end-customer, (c) design customer-facing business processes, (d) use technology to enable
your company to be profitable, and (e) promote customer loyalty. If a website is to be
incorporated into the organization's E-commerce plan, it must take five basic steps in
order to complete the mechanics of establishing a viable website: (a) find an Internet
service provider (ISP), (b) register a domain name, (c) develop the website, (d) manage
the website, and (e) measure the website's effectiveness. Additionally, many businesses
progress through several evolutionary stages before reaching their full potential: (a)
supplying company and product information, (b) providing customer support and enabling
interaction with the customer, (c) supporting electronic transactions, (d) personalizing
interaction with customers, and finally (e) fostering community among customers. 
The research team reviewed a small, regional company's experience with E-Commerce and a
sample E-commerce proposal from a professional website development firm. The team found
that the regional company initially failed when it attempted to enter into E-commerce
without a strategic plan or professional expertise. However, the company's fortunes
changed after seeking help from a reputable professional and developing a strategic plan.
In comparing the elements of the professional web development firm proposal with the
textbook recommended model, the researchers found that they were substantially similar.
After reviewing all the collected data, the researchers made the following conclusions:
(a) The CEO should pursue an E-commerce initiative, (b) the CEO's first step should be to
initiate a pre-investment study to estimate and assess the expected costs, benefits, etc.
associated with establishing and maintaining an E-commerce presence, (c) the CEO should
contract with a reputable E-commerce developer to build a strategic plan and establish
the E-commerce vehicle, and (d) the CEO should develop a strategic plan before venturing
into E-commerce.
From Brick and Mortar to Click and Mortar:
Making the Transition from Conventional Business to E-Commerce
Introduction
Background
This research project was prompted by the requirement for the researchers to complete a
research project as part of the Applications of Business Research course, BSA 515. Per
the guidance provided by the course instructor, the researchers chose to research an area
of interest. The area of interest chosen for research was electronic commerce
(E-commerce). However, none of research team members had any previous knowledge or
experience with E-commerce. Accordingly, the team decided to build a research scenario to
allow them to conduct their research from "scratch."
For the purpose of this project, the team assumed the role of staff members in a
hypothetical firm. This firm is a small regional company headed by a CEO who is also the
company's founder and owner. The company has a staff of approximately 150 people, and it
produces and markets several consumer products. Currently, the firm conducts business in
a conventional "brick and mortar" model. That is, the firm uses a tradition store, housed
in building, where customers drive to the store's premises to purchase goods. The firm
employs traditional marketing methods (newspaper, television, and radio), and its only
electronic transaction capability is a limited telephone ordering capability.
The CEO, who is the primary decision maker for the firm, is forward thinking, and she
would like to expand her market. She perceives that E-commerce would be a good way to
accomplish this goal, but she knows next to nothing about E-commerce. The firm's staff
members do not have any experience or working knowledge of E-commerce, so the CEO has no
internal resources to provide immediate advice or recommendations on how she should
proceed. She is inclined to believe that she should migrate to a "click and mortar" model
(a traditional business model expanded to take advantage of electronic business
technologies; "click" refers to the click of a computer mouse) to expand her business,
but she is unsure. The CEO decides that she wants to investigate E-commerce, and she
wants to determine whether E-commerce is a wise choice for her firm. Accordingly, she
assigns three members of her staff to research E-commerce and provide recommendations. 
Problem Definition
The research team used the following steps to define the problem: (a) ascertain the
decision maker's objectives, (b) understand the problem's background, (c) identify and
isolate the problem(s), (d) identify relevant variables, if any, and (e) state the
research questions.
The decision maker has three objectives: (a) to expand her knowledge of E-commerce, (b)
to find out how to implement an E-commerce model for her firm, and (c) to decide whether
to migrate to a "click and mortar" model. The following background factors are pertinent
to the problem: (a) There is a perceived need to enter into E-commerce, (b) the CEO has
minimal E-commerce knowledge or understanding, and (c) no experience or knowledge base on
E-commerce exists within the firm.
The actual problem to be solved is two-fold. The CEO doesn't know whether E-commerce is a
good vehicle for her organization, and she does not know how to commence an E-commerce
initiative. With respect to the relevant variables, the following variables would have an
impact on the problem: (a) the estimated cost of establishing the E-commerce vehicle, (b)
the estimated cost of maintaining the vehicle, and (c) the estimated return on investment
(ROI). Unfortunately, the hypothetical nature of the firm in question prohibited the
research team from performing a realistic cost/benefit analysis to use in making
recommendations. This will impact on the research questions.
The objective of this research is to provide the CEO with a reasonable recommendation to
either pursue some form of E-commerce or to remain with her current brick and mortar
model. Considering the constraints with respect to cost/benefit analyses, there are two
research questions to be answered: (a) Should the CEO venture into E-commerce, and (b) if
she should, what should she do to initiate her E-commerce venture?
Hypothesis
The hypothesis for this research project supports the following proposition: E-commerce
is not a fad, E-commerce is not only the wave of the future, but it is here to stay, and
businesses will have to invest in E-commerce to remain competitive. Accordingly, barring
pre-investment study results contrary to global trends, the hypothetical business owner
in this project should pursue an E-commerce initiative because its benefits will far
outweigh its costs.
Methodology
Research Design
Due to the constraining factors affecting this project, particularly time constraints,
the research design is very basic. The researchers decided to conduct the research by
following these steps: (a) collect secondary data on E-commerce to develop a knowledge of
its evolution, trends, expected benefits, and textbook recommended designs, (b) collect
data from at least one company that has ventured into E-commerce and document its
experience, (c) obtain and study a typical E-commerce development recommendation from a
professional E-commerce developer, (d) compare the company's experience and the
developer's proposal to the "textbook solution" to determine whether they are
significantly different or substantially the same, and (e) make a recommendation based on
the research findings.
Sources of Data
The research project depended primarily on secondary data sources. The researchers
studied textbooks, on-line journal articles, traditional journal articles, case studies,
and abstracts. The researchers also studied a web implementation plan acquired from a
professional website developer who specializes in E-commerce development. The only
primary data obtained by the researchers consisted of interviews conducted with a web
development specialist and with a local company that has recently ventured into the world
of E-commerce.
Research Results
The Question is Not Whether or When to Enter E-commerce; It's How to Enter E-Commerce.
Business people who are pondering whether to venture into E-commerce should focus on the
more important question, "How can I start a effective E-commerce business?" The
phenomenal growth in business conducted over the Internet and by other electronic means
indicates E-commerce's great potential. Analyses conducted by numerous researchers verify
the growth already experienced, and they also point to a continued explosion of
E-business that is not likely to subside. Although they do not provide identical
estimates, the following examples all indicate continued E-commerce expansion:
1. "Between 1995 and 1997, according to a Price Waterhouse study, annual venture capital
funding for on-line business went from $134 million to $1.88 billion." (Siebel and House,
1999, p. 4)
2. A recent (pre-1998) U.S. Department of Commerce study entitled The Emerging Digital
Economy estimated 100 million Web users worldwide, and it projects 1 billion web users
worldwide for the year 2005. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 3)
3. A 1999 estimate of web site growth stated, "New commercial sites are being added to
the World Wide Web at the rate of 5,000 a month. That's one new place of business every
nine minutes." (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 4)
4. Find/SVP, Inc. estimates that the number of regular Web users in the United States
jumped from 8.4 million in 1996 to 28 million in 1998. Their projection for Web users in
the year 2000 exceeded 200 million. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 3)
5. The market opportunity for business to business (B2B) e-commerce is immense and
already exceeds the business to consumer (B2C) e-market by a considerable margin. Figure
1 illustrates this point. As Figure 2 displays, the Gartner Group, Inc. projects the
worldwide market for B2B e-commerce to grow from $403 Billion in 2000 to more than $7
trillion by 2004." (see Appendix).
6. The E-commerce implementation plan (Appendix) made available by The Javier Romero
Design Group (JRDG) provided the estimated E-commerce growth projection information JRDG
supplied to one of its clients. Figure 3 below shows estimates for the portion of the
worldwide business to business (B2B) E-commerce that will be conducted via
e-marketplaces. E*Offering, a subsidiary of E*Trade ?, estimates that e-markets generated
about $22 billion in year 2000 revenue on a worldwide basis. According to Forrester
Research, the United States B2B E-commerce market should reach $2.7 trillion by 2004, or
almost one-quarter of the United States projected Gross Domestic product (GDP) for 2004.
For businesses that enter into E-commerce wisely, this signals potential wealth that
should be tapped into. (see Appendix).
If the examples above are true indicators, one must conclude that E-commerce is here to
stay, and it will continue to grow as more and more consumers and businesses take
advantage of E-commerce opportunities. With the increasing number of people who have
access to the web, it will become almost a necessity to present your company on the web,
and in other E-commerce vehicles, to stay competitive. (Wilson, 1997) We should assume an
increasing percentage of our customers and clients would expect us to employ E-commerce
as a routine method of doing business. This expectation is fueled by the advances in
computer, network and Internet technology combining to enable "virtuality," or the
ability to conduct business transactions on a global level, in a real time format,
without being constrained by physical location. As these advances continue, physical
distance becomes irrelevant and completing a transaction is so compressed that, for
practical purposes, "waiting time" is eliminated. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 8) 
E-commerce Benefits
Despite imperatives, there are distinct benefits associated with E-commerce. The
following points and examples provide insight into some of the benefits:
1. At a minimum, a website can provide the public with basic business information about
our company, such as the hours of operation, contact information and other important
details that the consumer needs to know. (net101.com) 
2. The Internet provides a way of advertising our products and services, as well as a way
of receiving information about what other people can offer our company. (Wilson, 1997)
3. The web provides a vehicle that allows the business to communicate with the customer.
Furthermore, it is a way for the customer to provide opinions on possible new products,
and for the company to view these opinions without the large expense of surveying through
traditional methods. Businesses can also determine the types of products that will be
successful by analyzing the type of people who use their website and the products they
order.
4. Many companies find that their e-commerce sites actually drive traffic to their
stores. At Sears.com, customers can make side-by-side product comparisons before clicking
to buy tools or appliances. Many visitors use the site to gather information before
heading to the Sears, Roebuck & Co. at their local mall. Because customers walk into the
stores knowing what they want, salespeople can sell the drills, refrigerators and washing
machines faster. (Stuart, 2000) 
5. In other cases, stores drive traffic to websites. That is the idea behind nearly 200
Gateway Country brick-and-mortar stores, which let customers test-drive Gateway computers
in the store before ordering them on-line from the San Diego-based company. (Stuart,
2000)
6. Reduced Asset Intensity. Asset intensity refers to the amount of assets you hold,
including inventory. Consequently, it directly relates to how many dollars you have to
have in place to run a business. If you can reduce both on-hand inventory and plant
property by using a website as your storefront, you can reduce the amount of money
required to run your business. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 128) 
7. In general, if a company is successfully selling products before venturing into
E-commerce, the Internet will only increase sales. The site would merely be an additional
channel for selling products. (Stuart, 2000)
The indicators are clear. Those who do not venture into E-commerce will risk being left
behind, and they may loose their ability to compete in their established markets.
Therefore, it's not a question of whether or when to enter into E-commerce. Participating
in E-commerce appears to be an imperative. The most important question facing those who
are not yet participating is how to get started in E-commerce.
Lessons Learned
The Internet has been in existence for a number of years, but significant levels of
civilian use have been limited to less than a full decade. Still, these first few years
have yielded some valuable lessons for E-commerce newcomers' benefit. Siebel and House
(1999) identified 9 lessons worth listing: 
1. "Zapping," the warp speed version of "just browsing," the electronic counterpart of
every retailer's pet peeve, is a Web norm. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 67) Your Internet
site will probably be just like your brick and mortar store. Some customers will come to
see what you have to offer, and some will compare your products against your competitors.
Many will not purchase your products or services.
2. Choose the most effective method of advertising for your business. Your on-line
choices are Search Engines (big directories), Hub Sites (small, focused directories), and
Gateway Ads (advertising on other organizations' sites). Limiting yourself to on-line
advertising might not yield the best results, so do not rule out conventional
advertising. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 67-83)
3. Be seen at the "front door" or entry portal for popular sites. This is best
accomplished by partnering with winners (e.g., AOL). (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 74)
4. Give more than "Brochureware." Brochureware is a term describing sites that only
provide information about your organization, similar to the paper brochures one might
pick up at a lobby display. Visitors must "get something for visiting your site. (e.g.,
free information, interactive entertainment or ads, recipes, etc.). If your site does
little more than provide brochure information, people will not repeat their visit.
5. Your website must be convenient and easy for customers to use. If it is not, they will
become frustrated, and they will not return.
6. Close the loop. "The most attractive web site in the world cannot manage its own
traffic." Therefore, you must have the process and resources in place to ensure the site
is truly interactive. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 84) Otherwise, visitors will not
return.
7. Don't go it alone. Form strategic alliances with successful E-commerce players.
(Siebel and House, 1999, chap. 3) It's difficult for a new start-up site to draw
attention. One of the best ways to draw attention is to ally with an already successful
and popular E-business.
8. Improve as you go. You must make continual improvements to your website. (Siebel and
House, 1999, p. 88) If you do not, your customers will grow bored of it.
9. "Before you spend the resources for even an elementary website, define exactly what
you expect that presence to accomplish for your company." (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 90)
This is probably the most valuable lesson of all. Those who fail at E-commerce generally
do so because they entered into it without a well-developed plan. As with conventional
business, poor planning often results in failure.
The lessons listed above are valuable, indeed, and they are definitely applicable to any
strategy for establishing an E-commerce presence.
A Proposed Model for Developing an E-Commerce Strategy
Introduction.
Before discussing the steps necessary to implement an E-commerce strategy, some
description of E-commerce is required. Generally speaking, E-commerce or electronic
commerce encompasses all electronic means of conducting business transactions, and
numerous technologies are available. Current E-business technologies include the World
Wide Web (WWW), integrated voice response (IVR) systems, kiosks, e-mail, hand held
digital appliances, cell phones, "smart" call centers, smart cards, and others. (Seybold
& Marshak, 1998, p. 33-38) The technologies are numerous, and a fully integrated
E-commerce strategy would employ a combination of the available technologies. However,
this research report most often makes reference to Internet/WWW capabilities because most
new initiates to E-commerce envision websites as their primary technology for electronic
business. (Downes & Mui, 1998)
Electronic commerce over the Internet may be either complementary to traditional business
or represent a whole new line of business. Electronic commerce can be defined loosely as
"doing business electronically." Electronic commerce includes electronic trading of
physical goods and intangibles such as information. This encompasses all the trading
steps such as on-line marketing, ordering, payment, and support for delivery. Electronic
commerce includes the electronic provision of services, such as after-sales support or
on-line legal advice. Finally, it also includes electronic support for collaboration
between companies, such as collaborative design. (Timmers, 1998)
Several business models have evolved in the e-commerce world. A business model is the
method of doing business by which a company can sustain itself - that is, generate
revenue, and each model has several sub-designs with which they are more narrowly
defined. There are a couple of models our prospective decision-maker may choose. One
possible model for consideration is the Brokerage Model. Brokers are market makers who
bring buyers and sellers together and facilitate transactions. The transactions can be in
business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) or consumer to consumer (C2C)
markets. A broker makes its money by charging a fee for each transaction it enables. One
sub-design of the Brokerage model is the Virtual Mall. This is a site that hosts many
on-line merchants. The mall typically charges setup, monthly listing, and/or per
transaction fees.
A more logical model, because it resembles a conventional business model, for our company
is the Merchant Model. Merchant model users are classic wholesalers and retailers of
goods and services (increasingly referred to as "e-tailers"). Sales may be made based on
list prices or through auction. In some cases, the goods and services may be unique to
the web and not have a traditional "brick-and-mortar" storefront. The best Merchant Model
sub-design for our use is the "Surf-and-Turf" design. This is a traditional
brick-and-mortar establishment with a web storefront. Under this concept, a business
stakes out a place on the web through a website, or establishes its "turf". Then, the
business registers this site with various search engines such as Yahoo, AltaVista, or
HotBot. When potential customers "surf" the web, they are guided to the registered
website, or turf, where they can conduct transactions directly with the business.
It is not necessary to select an E-commerce business model before developing a business
strategy. More to the point, business people who are about to enter into E-commerce
should not begin developing their business strategies with a preconceived notion of the
model they will use. Rather, the appropriate model should be dictated by the research and
analysis conducted while developing a strategy. 
Several sources (Downes & Mui, 1998; Geist, 1999; Gibbons-Paul, 1999; Rappa, 2000; Siebel
& House, 1999; Seybold & Marshak, 1998; Stuart, 2000; Tapscott, Ticoll & Lowry, 2000;
Timmers, 1998) provided blueprints for developing strategic plans for E-commerce.
Although they varied slightly, they were very similar in their recommendations for plan
development. Seybold and Marshak (1998) provided the most comprehensive treatment, and
their recommendations were the easiest to understand. Therefore, the model recommended
herein was derived significantly from the Seybold and Marshak model and supplemented by
some of the variations identified in the other sources.
Prerequisites.
Entering into E-commerce should not be taken lightly. As it is with any other business
venture, there is risk involved. Seybold and Marshak (1998, p. XVI) identified several
prerequisites to optimize the likelihood for success. An organization about to embark on
a voyage into E-commerce should meet the following prerequisites:
1. Visionary leader. The organization must have a leader who can envision the
opportunities available through E-commerce and be willing to act on them.
2. Perseverance. The organization must have the perseverance to follow its E-commerce
transition through to fruition.
3. Significant investment. The organization must be willing to invest the time, effort,
finances, and other resources to ensure the venture's success. If the organization does
not have sufficient capital to support the venture, it must find sufficient capital
backing from outside sources. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 122)
4. Partnership. The organization must establish a solid partnership between business
pragmatists and the information technology (IT) professionals who will enable the
E-commerce effort. The organization should also be prepared to form strategic alliances
with other, already successful E-commerce businesses. (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 122)
5. Team effort. The organizational leadership must acquire consensus on the need and
wisdom of entering E-commerce among the organization's members, and the leadership must
ensure participation by the entire organizational membership in the E-commerce effort.
Without both, the E-commerce effort will be viewed as an individual's or a small group's
program, not the organization's program.
If the organization can meet all of these prerequisites, it is ready to embark on its
E-commerce adventure.
The key rule of E-commerce.
"No matter how high tech you get, it's still about the customers. Technology drives
E-business, but it's not about technology. It's about using technology to empower
yourselves and your customers." (Siebel and House, 1999, p. 126) The key word in this
quote is customers. Customers should be the focus of every E-commerce venture, not
products, services, or technology. We must give the customers what they want or need.
Otherwise, customers will find someplace else to shop. We are "moving from a world in
which Henry Ford could offer his Model T customers "any color, so long as it's black," to
one in which customers everywhere are demanding it "their way." (Siebel and House, 1999,
p. 188) Those who fail to grasp this fact routinely fail because they put their emphasis
on their products and services or on "bells and whistles" rather than placing it on their
clients or customers.
Steps for building an E-commerce strategy.
Seybold and Marshak (1998) studied more than forty companies that were successful in
implementing E-commerce strategies, and they identified five key strategy-building steps
that were common to all forty companies. Although they are not cited in the exact
language or in the same sequence, these steps are also common to the other research
sources. The following five steps should form the core of any strategic plan for
E-commerce: (a) make it easy for your customers to conduct business, (b) focus on your
true end-customer, (c) design customer-facing business processes, (d) use technology to
enable your company to be profitable, and (e) promote customer loyalty. (Seybold &
Marshak, 1998, p. 6)
As noted above, customers should be the focus of E-commerce efforts. Their experiences
with making transactions with your business should be free of frustration; better yet,
they should be enjoyable. If their experience is hassle free, they will be inclined to
conduct more business with you. If it is not, the customer will become frustrated, and he
will either give up or seek an easier alternative. Anyone who has attempted to purchase
an item over the Internet from a website where "you can't get there from here" can verify
what this is all about. Accordingly, making it easy for customers to conduct business
with you is an imperative. 
There are several things you should do to enable frustration free interaction with your
customers:
1. First of all, do not skimp on your IT investment! Cutting corners in IT development
may save some money up front, but this savings is often short lived because it comes at
the expense of easy use. Ensure that you IT budget is sufficient and invest at least 50
percent of your IT dollars in making it easier for your customers to do business with
you. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 10) 
2. Whatever system you employ, it should not waste the customers' time. Customers will
expect your system to save them time. If it is slow, unresponsive, or time consuming to
maneuver through multiple layers or links, they will lose patience and go elsewhere.
(Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 11)
3. Remember who your customers are as individuals. If your company compiles data on your
customers, you should cross-reference your databases to ensure you know who your
customers are. Many people have experienced the situation where they receive a membership
solicitation from a credit card company when they already are a member. This immediately
signals a lack of knowledge on the company's part, and many people find this oversight
either insulting or annoying. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 12-14)
4. Make it easy for customers to order and procure services. Make all the information the
customer needs to place an order available in whatever venue or device they are using
(phone, computer, Kiosk, etc.), and be sure to provide the means for customers to
complete transactions without having to change venue. For example, if a customer starts a
transaction through your website, they should be able to complete the entire transaction
through the website. Having to conduct product or service research on-line and then
having to place the order by phone is both inconvenient and irritating. You should force
customers to interact with secondary information or ordering sources as a last resort
only. It's wiser to let them complete transactions themselves, and provide help or
personal interaction only when it's asked for. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 15)
5. Provide service that exceeds customers' expectations. This can be accomplished by
providing personal attention to each customer, by providing proactive services (order
status tracking, etc.), and by customizing products and services to meet individual
customer's needs or expectations. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 16-17; Siebel & House,
1999, p. 183)
In focusing on your end-customer, the objective is to identify exactly who your customers
are, then adapt your products and services to meet their needs. We are interested in the
people who actually use our products or services, not in middlemen, such as retailers or
brokers, who appear to be the customer. In E-commerce, we can identify our end-customers
in several ways. You can identify them by setting up vehicles for direct feedback from
your customers. You can use the latest technologies to collect customer data (smart
cards, customer ID cards, product ID codes, etc.), develop a data warehouse to build
individual customer profiles, and provide incentives for customers to identify themselves
to you. Alternatively, you can make arrangements with your middlemen (retailers, brokers)
to provide you with their data files of individual customer information. (Seybold &
Marshak, 1998, p. 19-31) Once you have identified your customers, you can begin
cataloguing their preferences, likes and dislikes, and you can begin tailoring your
products and services to meet their individual needs.
The "customer-facing" term refers to the processes and technologies with which your
customers interact. Some of the customer-facing technologies a business may use are the
Internet, integrated voice response (IVR) systems, kiosks, e-mail, hand-held digital
appliances, cell phones, "smart" call centers, smart cards, etc. (Seybold & Marshak,
1998, p. 33) These are the means by which customers can conduct E-commerce transactions,
and the processes supporting them should be designed with the customer in mind. Stated
differently, businesses must design the processes customers will use to conduct
E-commerce transactions from a customer prospective. In other words, your business
processes must support the customers' needs, not merely your business' needs. Many of the
technologies noted above can provide customers with the ability to initiate and complete
transactions on their own. They should be allowed to do so. When customers can complete
most transactions using technology, middlemen (brokers, agents, retailers) should perform
only functions that cannot be completed with technology. This implies that brokers,
agents and retailers should only perform functions the customer really values but cannot
do on his own. To employ technologies to their full capabilities, we should use them to
identify where the holes in our processes are (i.e. which ones do not satisfy customer's
needs) and prompt change. To accomplish this, we must also develop a system that provides
a method for storing and accessing customer information. With the appropriate customer
information and feedback data, we can continually refine our processes to satisfy
customer needs. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 34-38)
There are a number of ways to use technology to enable your company to be profitable. The
following list is not all-inclusive, but it covers some important recommendations for
enabling profitability through technology:
1. Always think beyond current technology and enable for E-commerce of the future.
(Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 39) This is a philosophy driven by the rapid rate of
technological change over the past decade. For example, the average amount of time for
computer technology to double microprocessor speed has been eighteen months. (Siebel and
House, 1999, p. 7) Although this rate of change may not last indefinitely, it does draw
attention to the fact that the computer technology we are using today may be outdated in
less than two years. With this in mind, we must make our plans with an eye on the future.
Building a strategy with today's technology in mind will cause us to fall behind our
competitors and our customers' expectations.
2. Integrate your website with your organization's back-end (existing) support systems.
Stated in a different way, do not ignore the tools you already have at hand. If you have
existing databases and support systems, do not leave them as stand-alone systems.
Instead, connect your website to these systems and use the available data. (Seybold &
Marshak, 1998, p. 39)
3. As noted above under the design of customer-facing business processes, use and
integrate other technologies such as Touch-Tone telephones, hand-held devices, kiosks,
etc. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 39) Many business owners maintain a narrow view, and
they do not look for resources beyond their website. To reap the full potential of
E-commerce opportunities, consider all of the E-commerce options available, and integrate
all of the technologies that can contribute to your profits. 
4. Build bridges to consolidate customer information across all product lines and
functional departments. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 40) Many businesses are organized
into different functional departments or along different product lines, and these
individual entities often maintain separate customer and product databases. While it is
not an intended side effect, this often leads to fragmented or duplicate information on
customers, rather than a cohesive, centralized customer database. This could result in a
product line department being aware of a customer's preferences on marketing vehicles,
but the marketing department having no idea about the customer's preferences. Remembering
that the customer should be our focus, it makes sense to build bridges among stove piped
systems. The logical follow-on to this is to integrate information across all software
applications. Taking both steps will effectively build a data warehouse that would
facilitate an increased capability to address customers' needs and wants. 5. When either
migrating from an old data system or building a new one, ensure that you include the
essential architectural building blocks in the system. At a minimum, the system must
include the following elements: (a) customer profiles, (b) the organization's explicit
and implicit rules for conducting business, (c) the organization's significant business
events and (d) the appropriate business objects (e.g., customer, account, product, order,
purchase, etc.) for programmers to design the system. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p.
41-51)
6. In addition to adopting a philosophy of future thinking, noted above, be sure to stay
abreast of the developing technologies that appear to be here for the long haul. They may
become industry standards, and they should be evaluated for inclusion in your strategy.
Some examples of hot technologies that appear to have continued future potential are
smart cards, digital certificates, extensible mark-up language (XML), and JAVA
programming language. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 44-46) 
In order to promote customer loyalty, it is important to assess the current situation and
then make a plan for the future. This entails measuring customer loyalty, identifying the
customers who provide the most profitability, targeting the customers who provide the
most profitability, and ensuring our business model is customer-focused. (Seybold &
Marshak, 1998, p. 52-62)
There are five basic elements required to make a current assessment of customer loyalty:
(a) the cost of acquiring new customers, (b) the cost of retaining customers, (c) the
revenue generated by customers, (d) customer profitability and (e) the most prevalent
reasons for customer defections. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 52-62) Of course, this
requires some existing ability to produce the customer date necessary to compute these
elements. The accuracy and value of the assessment diminish commensurate with data
limitations in this area. Companies using conventional, standard financial accounting
systems may not be able to extract much customer data because these systems are designed
for external reporting, not management use. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 57) Companies
with limited capability in this area should seriously consider migrating to
activity-based costing systems that can give them customer and activity data.
The objectives of making the measurements identified above are to isolate the costs
associated with acquiring and retaining customers, the revenues generated by customers,
the customers who generate the most profit, the types of customers who don't come back,
and their reasons for not coming back. This would provide a baseline from which to
measure future changes in each area. Ideally, we would be able to break customers into
revenue and profitability quartiles and identify the characteristics common to members of
each quartile. Armed with this information, we would use the characteristics of members
in the highest profitability quartile to target marketing, and product and service
efforts on the types of customers who will generate the most profit. If done properly, we
would optimize profitability by placing emphasis on the customers who generate profit and
by reducing emphasis on those who generate little profit. In essence, this would foster
greater loyalty from existing, loyal customers and from new customers with typical
loyalty characteristics. (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 56-60)
The final point regarding customer loyalty leads back to key rule of E-commerce. That is,
all efforts should be focused on the customer. This concept of focusing on the customer
is not new; Total Quality Management (TQM) business philosophy has espoused customer
focus for years. Still, many companies are product-centered. In a product-centered model,
"the customer is the anonymous target of marketing campaigns, and the financial systems
are designed to evaluate product market share, product costs, and product contribution to
profits." (Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 60) Unfortunately, product-centered models lack
validity in E-commerce because "revenue and profits come from customers, not products."
(Seybold & Marshak, 1998, p. 61) In order to optimize profits in an E-commerce setting, a
shift must be made to a customer-centered model. A customer-centered model focuses on the
customer and provides an ability to identify individual customers, to catalogue their
characteristics, preferences, and needs, and to develop or modify products and services
to meet the customers' expectations. In E-commerce, having the ability to meet customer's
expectations is essential. The conventional brick and mortar store scenario may allow a
business to stick with a product-centered model; the effort a customer may have to exert
to leave and shop elsewhere might compel her to make a transaction not completely to her
liking. E-commerce, however, requires little effort. With a couple of mouse clicks, the
customer can easily shop someplace else on the globe! 
Typical stages of E-commerce development.
Most organizations venturing into E-commerce for the first time cannot begin conducting
e-business with a fully developed website. They normally start out with a limited
capability and then grow into a model with greater capabilities. Seybold and Marshak
(1998, p. 46-50) noted a general pattern where many company's progress through five
stages of E-commerce development: 
1. Supplying company and product information. Most sites initially start out by simply
providing marketing information, contact information, and company background information.
This information is often referred to a "brochureware." While this type of site does
little to bring customers back, it establishes a presence on the Internet and provides
the business with expanded visibility.
2. Providing customer support and enabling interactions. In order to entice customers to
return to its site, a business must provide more than information to its customers.
Therefore, the site must quickly expand to acquire a customer support capability. This is
the most beneficial capability a business can acquire because it provides customers with
the something they truly want. That is the ability to help themselves!
3. Supporting electronic transactions. The next logical growth step is to enable
customers to purchase goods and services over the Internet in a secure environment. If
the website is properly designed, progressing to this capability should begin providing a
significant return on investment.
4. Personalizing interaction with customers. Once the site has a transactional capability
is acquired, the wise organization will begin collecting customer information (customer
preference profiles, purchase profiles, etc.) This information is then used by the
business to personalize its interaction with the customer. The ability to personalize
interaction becomes the "glue that binds" a customer to the business, and prompts the
customer to return because of the personal attention he or she receives. In Internet
parlance, this is when the site becomes "sticky." 
5. Fostering community. Once the business establishes a level of trust and a one-on-one
relationship with the customer, the business can use the site to foster community among
its customers. Through the website, the business encourages customers to interact with
each other through technologies such as chat rooms, customer on-line help forums, etc.
Customers can offer each other tips and help, swap stories, etc. This form of interaction
is the ultimate level of "sticky" because the customers will return to the site to both
conduct transactions and to interact with each other.
Steps for establishing a small business website.
Siebel and House (1999, p. 242-261) identify five basic steps that small business must
take in order to complete the mechanics of establishing a viable website:
1. Find an Internet service provider (ISP). Finding an ISP is relatively easy; the
telephone book is full to them. Finding a good and reliable ISP requires more work. Ask
for referrals before contacting potential ISP candidates. Once several candidates with
reputations for service and reliability are found, eliminate candidates who do not
provide sufficient bandwidth, system redundancy, security measures, and service
(twenty-four hour per day, seven day per week service, also called 24/7 service, is a
must). The key thing to remember is that failure to consistently maintain Internet
service equates to a failure to maintain customers.
2. Register a domain name. The businesses domain name must be registered in two places.
The name must be registered with InterNIC (rs.internic.net/reg), and it must be
registered with a search engine (e.g., Yahoo!). Registration with both entities is
imperative because they have a symbiotic relationship, and the website will not function
without registering with both.
3. Develop the website. It behooves a business to ensure that it contracts with a website
developer who has proven expertise in technical website development and in E-commerce
design and marketing. As with ISPs, there are countless website developers, but there are
a limited numbers of developers who will have expertise in all areas necessary to design
a successful E-commerce website.
4. Manage the website. This is a follow-on to website development. The key point to
remember is that there's more to having a website than simply establishing it on the
Internet. Once the website is launched, it should be maintained and improved to meet
customers' likes and needs. Just as inconsistent Internet connectivity will drive
customers away, failure to adapt the website and keep it fresh will cause customers to
look elsewhere.
5. Measure the website's effectiveness. Measures of effectiveness are necessary to
determine whether the benefits derived from the site justify the costs associated with
establishing and maintaining the site. These measures of effectiveness should be
conceptualized before website development begins, and a method for analyzing measures of
effectiveness should be incorporated into the web development plan and in the website
itself. This will ensure the measures are in place to analyze return on investment when
the site is established.
Selling Power ? Enters E-Commerce
Having identified the key elements for building a successful E-commerce model, the second
part of this research project shall be addressed. As stated in the research design, the
researchers sought out a local company that recently ventured into the E-commerce realm.
Upon finding a company to study, the group documented the company's experiences to-date
in order to evaluate whether the company's actions incorporated the key strategy elements
identified above. The name of the company is Selling Power, and the approximate beginning
date for its E-commerce adventure was 1998. The following narrative on Selling Power's
E-commerce experience was compiled from personal interviews conducted between December 1
and December 29, 2000 with Ms. Irini Chaney of Selling Power and Mr. Aaron Schindler of
the Javier Romero Design Group (JRDG).
Selling Power is a publishing company; it produces a magazine, numerous books, audio
programs and other products for sales professionals. This private company has been in
existence since 1980. The circulation for the magazine is approximately 200,000 and
includes an international subscriber database. Currently, the company employs about 50
people who are located throughout the United States.
Selling Power's original E-commerce goals were modest. In 1998, the company decided to
incorporate a website into the company's business model to enable customers to access
additional information about sales. The website consisted of several pages of information
dealing with past articles from the magazine. This approach did not prove successful
because the information was difficult to retrieve, and it offered subscribers nothing in
addition to the traditionally published products they already received. Selling Power
hired several web-page developers to improve the website, and while each offered a new
perspective, the website still was not an asset to the company.
In September of 2000, the Selling Power decided to hire a web contractor with E-commerce
experience to analyze the website and assess whether the website could eventually benefit
the company or whether the company should focus on another E-commerce venue.
Concurrently, the company was experiencing a decline in the number of paid subscriptions,
as well as a decline in product sales. These declines seemed to indicate that Selling
Power's average consumers were losing interested in purchasing hard copy subscriptions. 
The contractor, Mr. Schindler, had some definitive ideas about the website and the focus
that Selling Power should adopt for the future. He felt that the company would definitely
benefit from improving the website, and he was subsequently hired to develop a long-term
implementation plan. The first step in the planning process was to establish the
corporate goals. Mr. Schindler worked with the Selling Power leadership to develop the
following nine goals for Selling Power: (a) empower the company to take advantage of the
internet to expand its global reach within the sales industry, (b) increase revenues for
the company, (c) increase sales training opportunities for subscribers of the magazine as
well as other visitors to the website, (d) attract high volume website hits to increase
exposure to the magazine and to the products of Selling Power, (e) provide resources for
sales professionals, (f) provide a business-to-business (B2B) marketplace - a directory
for buyers and sellers within the sales industry, (g) provide on-line career channels for
sales professionals, (h) attract and retain customers via the Internet and (i) reduce the
costs of maintaining the website.
The next step in the planning process was to conduct an on-line market overview for the
sales industry. Approximately 56 percent of all companies will sell their products over
the Internet by the end of 2001, according to a survey of Chief Financial Officers,
conducted by Duke University. (A. Schindler, personal communication, December 2000) Based
on this and other projection data provided by the contractor, Selling Power was motivated
to continue pursuit of the project. This motivation was prompted by their recognition
that they would risk being "left behind" their competition by not participating and by
the following advantages to participation. Two of the advantages of a website market are
the relatively low costs and the opportunities for global reach. There is also the
opportunity for new growth by using the Internet. In addition to selling products over
the web, training sessions, conferences, seminars and research opportunities could also
be added. Most importantly, Selling Power could be accessible to an unlimited audience
with a quality website. 
The company also had to identify its major competitors and analyze the Internet
opportunities their competition was offering. The primary competitor is Sales and
Marketing Magazine ?. While they maintain a website, their main focus appears to be
informational rather than product sales. Selling Power viewed this as an advantageous
situation because its primary competitor offered little more than brocureware.
Consequently, selling Power decided to offer sales professionals a different portal with
more options. 
Selling Power's website implementation plan has been evolving in a continuous and ongoing
process. At the outset, the contractor provided a basic website development plan to
"launch" the improved website as quickly as possible. However, he is continuing his
research to identify areas for improvement and features that could be added to the
website. He conducted interviews with company personnel, observed customer service to
gain an understanding the overall process of selling the company's products, held
conferences with financial managers to determine available spending money for the
project, and observed traffic on the current website. All of these actions have been part
of the continuous processes to make the website perform at its optimal level.
The contractor also advised Selling Power that the following characteristics are
necessary to make its website "great": (a) must provide value for the consumer, (b) must
be user friendly, (c) must be well organized, (d) must be "sticky" (the term "sticky"
refers to making the customer want to return to the website), (e) must be professional,
(f) must be global, (g) must be informational, (h) must be educational, (i) must be
resourceful, (j) must be secure and (k) must be reliable.
In adhering to the contractor's recommendations, Selling Power has identified specific
areas for improvement to its website.
The current site offers the opportunity to purchase products on-line, but the credit card
information is not secure. The user enters the credit card information and then it is
transferred via email to the customer service department, allowing the opportunity for
this information to be transferred into the wrong hands. Selling power recognizes that
customers will be reluctant to provide credit card information to an un-secure website.
The company is working on establishing a relationship with its current credit card
processing center so that all credit card orders can be approved on-line in a secure
environment.
There are also problems with the purchase of magazine subscriptions. There are two areas
of concern. First, it appears that many sales people prefer to read information on-line,
versus a hard copy of the magazine. Currently, the magazine provides access to the entire
website archive, with minimal or no fee. The web contractor suggested that Selling Power
provide access to some articles with no charge, but the issues that contain articles with
special information, such as the Selling Power 500 (similar to the Forbes 500), should
only provide enticing tidbits. This will produce more revenue because people will be
willing to purchase these articles on-line in order to have the information. 
The ability to actually purchase the magazine on-line is also an area that needs
improvement. Currently, any visitor to the website can purchase a subscription to the
magazine, with three trial issues, and then cancel with no payment. This falsely
increases the amount of accounts receivable revenue because a majority of the subscribers
cancel upon receiving the invoice. The contractor suggested that Selling Power change its
on-line payment process for subscriptions. 
Implementing a website with all of the envisioned capabilities at Selling Power is an
ongoing process that will take approximately eighteen months to complete (the projected
completion date is March 2002). The contractor has presented many ideas that might
improve traffic and increase sales on the website. However, not all of the proposals will
work for the company. It will take time to introduce different ideas and monitor the
response from the customers. To-date, Selling Power has had success in making the
following improvements to its website:
1. The company has implemented the on-line credit card processing. The customer can no
longer order a product without paying first. By eliminating the pay later feature, the
number of subscriptions has been slightly reduced, but the value of receiving paid
subscription orders is a positive step for the company. 
2. Selling Power now offers product specials to increase sales. Sales have greatly
increased because of this option. It also encourages customers to return to the site on a
regular basis to purchase products. This has definitely been a positive enhancement to
the website.
3. Contests offering thought provoking challenges to people within the sales profession,
with a chance to win money, seems to have increased traffic on the site. These visitors
are not necessarily buying products but they are reading the information provided and it
has the potential to attract subscribers in the future.
Currently, Selling Power is working on enhancing the website by making navigation easier.
More color has been added to the site and more links have been added, but more work is
still needed in this area. The company is also creating an on-line career channel as
another enticement to attract visitors. This is a new area for Selling Power, and will
take several months to develop. 
Overall, the corporate website for Selling Power has improved, and the results have been
very positive. Sales have increased from approximately $6,500 per month to approximately
$12,000 per month. The traffic to the site grows every week. The company is receiving
positive feedback from its customers. There will still be a period of trial and error,
but the company realizes that, while not every proposal will benefit the company, the
money invested in this contractor will be far less than the benefits it will receive.
Creating a corporate website definitely appears to have been the right decision for
Selling Power.
A Javier Romero Design Group Web Implementation Plan
The Appendix contains an actual website implementation plan proposed by JRDG. The plan is
extremely lengthy (160 pages) and detailed. It was also prepared specifically for an
organization titled the Strategic Research Institute (SRI), a conference and information
company. The plan addresses SRI's needs, and it is not generic in nature. Still, the
research team believed that it is a good example of an experienced web developer's
development proposal.
The research team studied the JRDG plan to ascertain whether it incorporated the textbook
steps cited above. The purpose of making this comparison was to determine whether real
world website developers actually practice the methodology described in the researched
text sources. An exact procedural match was not anticipated, so the team searched for
substantial similarities to, and significant differences from, the methodology cited
above. Because of the SRI specific nature of the proposal, the reader is forced to
interpret some of the material and make inferences regarding similarities and
differences.
Embedded in the plan (see Appendix) are proposed steps for incorporating the following
characteristics into the SRI website: (a) value for the customer and SRI, (b) user
friendliness, (c) ease of use, (d) site organization, (e) making the site "sticky," (f)
leadership, (g) professional appearance, (h) global capabilities, (i) value as an
informational source, (j) value as an educational source, (k) resourcefulness, (l)
E-commerce capabilities, (m) security and (n) reliability. The plan also proposes
detailed methodology for incorporating the following capabilities: (a) the ability to
access and retrieve company, product and service information, (b) customer support for
conference and information management, (c) the ability to interact with customers, and
(d) the ability to conduct transactions for products and services electronically. The
plan does not appear to address methods (i.e. data warehousing) for personalizing
interaction with customers or for developing a community among customers. It is not clear
whether the latter characteristics have been omitted intentionally or not.
Analysis
Selling Power analysis.
In comparing Selling Power's experience in with the textbook steps described above, the
research team made the following findings:
1. Selling Power does not appear to have conducted any significant research before
initiating its movement into the E-commerce arena.
2. Initially, the company did not develop a strategic plan for entering into the
E-commerce arena. Only after experiencing initial failure did Selling Power seek
professional help in developing its plan.
3. Selling Power had little success with the first few contractors hired to help develop
its E-commerce site. The research team assumes that these contractors had experience as
website developers but little or no experience in E-commerce. 
4. Based on the interview results provided during research, it appears that the strategic
plan, developed by the contractor and Selling Power, did incorporate the majority of the
steps and elements required for a successful venture into E-commerce.
5. Selling Power's plan appears to provide a competitive edge over its key competitor.
6. Although Selling Power's transition into E-commerce is still ongoing, initial
indications are positive, and the website progress so far has yielded significant
success. 
7. Developing and executing a strategic plan for E-commerce appears to be the key factor
in the E-commerce success that Selling Power is currently enjoying.
JRDG analysis.
In comparing JRDG's SRI proposal with textbook steps described above, the research team
found that the steps and elements included in the proposal are substantially similar to
the textbook solution. However, the plan does not appear to address methods for
personalizing interaction with customers or methods for developing a community among
customers. It is not clear why these two stages were omitted. Possibly, the strategic
plan did not require either capability. This might be the case if SRI's customers are not
enticed by personalized interaction or community activities (e.g., corporate entities).
It might also be that SRI is not prepared to manage these capability levels.
Research Limitations
The research group encountered several limitations during the course of researching and
writing this paper. Time, limited resources, and the necessity to rely on secondary data
were the most significant of these limitations. This was to be an in-depth analysis on a
subject of the group's choosing. But with only a few weeks to research, develop an
approach, construct and write the paper, time became a major, limiting factor. In order
to develop a viable strategy and construct a more developed research paper, more time is
need for the planning and research process.
Two factors caused resources to become a limitation. First, E-commerce is still a
relatively new business methodology. Thus, even secondary data is limited to those
companies who were around at the onset and survived the initial E-commerce boom. The
other limiting resource factor was the lack of reasonable facilities and vehicles for
conducting research. The Simpson Library at Mary Washington College is an excellent
resource library, but due the holidays and semester break, the facility was closed. The
Marine Corps Research Center and the Central Rappahannock Regional Library also had
limited operating hours during December 2000 and January 2001. On-line resources were a
great help, but unless one was a subscriber to most publications found, one could only
obtain summary information at best.
Due to lack of time, the group was forced to rely primarily on secondary information. In
order to develop, validate, distribute, gather and analyze survey information, more than
a few weeks are needed. Even simple interviews were difficult to arrange due to both
holiday schedules and the need to de-conflict the calendars of both the interviewee and
the interviewer. Hence, secondary data became our primary resource for data gathering.
Finally, we found that we could not depend on inter-library loan services to collect
secondary data source documents. We attempted to retrieve texts that were not available
in local libraries through inter-library loan, but the process is extremely slow.
Although we requested products through inter-library loan at the beginning of the course,
four weeks have passed, and the texts are still not available for review. In other words,
none of the requested materials arrived before the project submission date.
Conclusions
Based on the knowledge acquired in researching E-commerce and in comparing real life
experience and document data to textbook recommendations, the research team made the
following conclusions:
1. The CEO should pursue an E-commerce initiative because the researchers expect its
benefits will far outweigh its costs. This conclusion is based on E-commerce trends and
Selling Power's experience.
2. The CEO's first step should be to initiate a pre-investment study to estimate assess
the expected costs, benefits, etc. associated with establishing and maintaining an
E-commerce presence. This conclusion is based on the limitations of this research
project; its scope did not cover cost/benefit analyses.
3. If the pre-investment study indicates feasibility, the CEO should contract with a
reputable E-commerce developer to build a strategic plan and establish the E-commerce
vehicle. This conclusion is based on Selling Power's lack of success without adequate
professional help.
4. The CEO should develop a strategic plan before venturing into E-commerce. This
conclusion is based on the need to build a plan to adequately address the numerous pieces
required to put an E-commerce "puzzle" together.
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