E-Commerce Trends

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With some exceptions, many of the smaller companies on the Web have stores that have been left behind. Some of these were early-adopters who now need to catch up to the current store technologies. Fortunately, there are many reasonably-priced options to choose from to build small to medium stores, many of them third generation software with the ability to maintain the store with a Web browser using a "back office" password protected merchant area.

When you compare the development costs for a first class online store, you probably still haven't reached typical costs of setting up its strip-mall cousin. The Web is a bargain, even though the larger companies have raised the bar a notch.

For two years, a lot of guessing was going on in store design. This month, for the first time, I see a huge increase in the literature on designing online stores to sell. We've finally got enough experience to start applying what we've learned.

If you're a storeowner, I recommend that you use the next few months to become acquainted with the developing science of online store design, and thoroughly redo your store so it looks every bit as good as your large-company competitors. Your shelves may be a bit barer than theirs, but you can compete if you want to.

We've also seen changes in the kinds of products being purchased. Of course, there are computer products and books, but for the first time, apparel was the top seller on America Online this season. I expect to see purchases of many kinds of consumer goods become commonplace this year.

Go for it!

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Editor, Web Commerce Today
January 15, 1998