The Advantages of E-Commerce to the Small Business Owner Executives used to imagine their companies as the center of a solar system orbited by suppliers and customers. The Internet is changing that dramatically. Now thecustomer is becoming the center of the entire business universe. E-commerce relatesto that part of e-business that includes transactions that involve money. The largerconcept of e-business, however, goes well beyond buying and selling items on theInternet. E-business is about using information, technology, and resources to conductbusiness online. The processes of marketing your goods and services to yourmembers, e-tailing, can be compared to a store front where you display products andsolicit business from others. Local, national, and international organizations can utilizeyour products or services just as easily as the person next door. And because theInternet is not constrained by space or time, your competition can come fromnontraditional sources. Having and online store means that a small company can lookbig without having to spend big bucks. Steve Solazo, Vice President of small andgrowing businesses for IBM Corp.’s software division in Somers, NY says, “The Internetcan really help small companies improve their competitive posture. If they can movemore quickly to make information available to their suppliers and buyers, they can get anadvantage over their competitors” (McCollum, 34). With the emergence of the publicInternet, small firms that can arrange to do business on the Internet stand to win big,since the Internet is supposed to eliminate the middleman by allowing companies to dealdirectly with their end customers.Recent surveys of small businesses and their owners reveal some intriguingfacts. Bill Schumer, national small business banking marketing manager with BANKONE says, “Small business with fewer than 10 employees account for nearly 80 percentof all U.S. compan...
