As with any business move or expansion, considering an online presence can raise a sometimes dizzying list of questions for an entrepreneur. Exactly what must be put in place to make it happen? How does an online presence change the market for the business? What are competitors doing? How will people shop? What kind of security is required? How will customers pay online? We put together this guide, a primer of sorts, to help answer those questions.

Small businesses that have little or no e-commerce capabilities on their websites will learn about taking the next step in converting their marketing sites into selling locations that extend their customer bases, images and sales in entirely new ways. Those entrepreneurs not yet online will discover how the Internet is likely to transform their businesses and introduce them to markets far beyond those which are currently in reach.

Why Go Online?
The most amazing aspect of e-commerce is its ability to impact sales and marketing efforts immediately. By going online, suddenly a neighborhood bakery or a homebased consulting service expands its reach to a national, or even international base of potential customers. Web-based sales know no international boundaries.

Forrester Research, which analyzes online trends and statistics, projects the online retail market for U.S. businesses to be $230 billion by 2008. That's a full 10 percent of anticipated total U.S. retail sales.

Not only is the internet increasing the number of potential customers that a company can reach, but it's also driving profitability, according to research from IPSOS, commissioned by PayPal. The survey discovered that, far from being an extra "expense," internet operations boosted businesses' bottom lines.

• Of small businesses that sell online, 64 percent said the internet has increased their revenues or sales.
• Of small businesses that sell online, 64 percent said the internet has increased their revenues or sales.
  • 48 percent felt the internet helped to expand their geographic reach in the United States.
  • And 73 percent saved money by decreasing administrative costs.
  Cash flow is of significant importance to a new business--online or brick and mortar. The study found that small business owners who conduct business online feel it allows them to receive payments faster and conduct business easier.
  When entrepreneurs move online, they establish themselves on a level playing field with larger competitors. On the internet, even the smallest online retailer can be as attractive and as functional as the largest big box store--without the need to have a physical presence on every street corner. Often, small shops project a "boutique" feel that attracts shoppers, who perceive smaller businesses as more distinctive than larger stores
• Electronic commerce, commonly known as E-commerce or eCommerce, is trading in products or services conducted via computer networks such as the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce,electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at one point in the transaction's life-cycle, although it may encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail, mobile devices, social media, and telephones as well.
  Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of business transactions. This is an effective and efficient way of communicating within an organization and one of the most effective and useful ways of conducting business. It is a Market entry strategy where the company may or may not have a physical presence.
  E-commerce can be divided into 7 subsections:
  • Etail or "virtual storefronts" on websites with online catalogs, sometimes gathered into a "virtual mall"
  • Buying or selling on websites and/or online marketplaces
  • The gathering and use of demographic data through web contacts and social media
  • Electronic data interchange, the business-to-business exchange of data
  • E-mail and fax and their use as media for reaching prospective and established customers (for example, with newsletters)
  • Business-to-business buying and selling
  • The security of business transactions