Electronic Commerce is one of the most important opportunities available to businesses today. It allows people to exchange goods and services immediately and with no barriers of time or distance. Any time of the day or night, your customers can go online and buy almost anything.

Thousands of businesses are trading successfully online, but is your business ready for Electronic Commerce? Review this checklist to identify how ready your business is to embrace the Electronic Commerce opportunity:

Do you already have experience of selling through mail order?

What percentage of existing sales orders are received by
- Post?
- Fax?
- Telephone?

Have you the skills and capacity to fulfil mail order sales?

How easy is it for you to deliver products to your customers?
- Have you considered the weight and subsequent cost of carriage?
- Can you ship using standard sized of packaging?
- Are any of your products perishable?
- Are any of your goods of high value and expensive to insure?

Are your goods suitable for export and have you considered
- Translation?
- Import /export regulations?
- Additional carriage and taxation costs?

What is the maximum number of distinct product lines would you wish to offer via the Internet?

Are your products available in standard form or do they have a lot of variations or options, such as size or colour, that a customer has to specify?

How easy is it for customers to make a buying decision based on only words and pictures of your products when they can't touch, taste or smell them?

Are your goods rare, or difficult to find, or are they relatively commonplace?

Do you sell through resellers, do they add value to your products or are they mainly distributors who hold products in stock?

If so, what percentage of your sales are made through distributors or resellers?

Are your sales are made to other businesses as opposed to consumers?

How well do your customers understand your products or services?
- Do you have a readily identifiable brand or image?
- To what extent do you enjoy repeat business?
- Can you identify a group of regular buyers?
- How would your customers rate customer satisfaction?
- How would your customers' rate trust in your product?
- How would your customers rate value for money

How would you classify your customers?
- Social shoppers - shopping is an opportunity to get out and to meet people.
- Experimenters - the first to try new things and generally have all the latest gadgets.
- Convenience shoppers - shopping is generally a chore and often left until the last minute.
- Traditionalists - like to use the same shops, shopping is habitual.
- Value shoppers - seek best value and quality at lowest price.
- Ethical shoppers - purchase decision based upon ethics and fair trade, may pay premium.

So, how ready is your business to establish an electronic commerce channel? The lakeshost team can help and support you through each stage of the implementation process. Call now to discuss your specific requirements.