Advantages Of Online Business

Worldwide Presence
This is the biggest advantage of conducting business online. A firm engaging in e-business can have a nationwide or a worldwide presence. IBM was one of the first companies to use the term e-business to refer to servicing customers and collaborating with business partners from all over the world. Dell Inc., too, had a flourishing business selling PCs throughout the U.S., only via telephone and the Internet till the year 2007. Amazon.com is another success story that helps people buy internationally from third parties. Hence, worldwide presence is ensured, if companies rethink their business with regard to the Internet.

Cost-effective Marketing and Promotions
Using the web to market products guarantees worldwide reach at a nominal price. Advertising techniques, like pay per click advertising, ensure that the advertiser only pays for the advertisements that are actually viewed. Affiliate marketing -- where customers are directed to a business portal because of the efforts of the affiliate, who in turn receive a compensation for their efforts meeting with success -- has emerged on account of e-business. Affiliate marketing has helped both the business and the affiliates. Firms have managed to use cost-effective online advertising strategies to their advantage.

Developing a Competitive Strategy
Firms need to have a competitive strategy in order to ensure a competitive advantage. Without an effective strategy, they will find it impossible to maintain the advantage and earn profits. The strategy that the firms can pursue, can be a cost strategy or a differentiation strategy. For instance, till the year 2007, Dell Inc. was selling computers only via the Internet and the phone. It adopted a differentiation strategy by selling its computers online and customizing its laptops to suit the requirements of the clients. Thus, e-business resulted in Dell Inc. managing to capture a chunky segment of the market using the differentiation strategy.

Better Customer Service
E-business has resulted in improved customer service. Many a time, on visiting a website, the customer is greeted by a pop-up chat window. Readily available customer service may help in encouraging the customer to know more about the product or service. Moreover, payments can be made online, and products can be shipped to the customer without the customer having to leave the house.

Curtailing of Transaction Cost
The nature of online business is such that, the costs incurred for every transaction to go through smooth and sound, there is no acting middleman. Websites are sufficiently loaded with directions to facilitate stress-free transactions. Simple and succinct instructional tabs, generally, save the potential buyer from predicaments of any sort. The mode of payment is predetermined, promising security to the customer. Thus, online payments are a no-ho-hum affair. All that you are left with, as the proprietor of your online business, is to download the requirement order and ship it. This demands effort, too; however, the toil is far less than a tangible business profile.

Overhead Costs Are Reduced
An E-business, essentially, is independent of costs that are incurred due to business having a physical entity. Utility bills and other expenses are manageable. You also cut back on costs incurred for hiring personnel and retaining them with competitive incentives topped with abundant facilities. Running an e-business is highly convenient as the proprietor does not require to rent another site to execute the business.