While the benefits will vary depending on your business model, the following benefits
can be obtained from consumer based e-commerce:
- Reduced Manual Processing
- This is the main benefit for many businesses. A simple example of this is a
business accepting payment by credit card. In many cases, the card number will be
obtained over the phone or in person, and then processed using a standard EFTPOS
type PINPad. A large batch of customer payments can take an employee
considerable time to "punch in" to the PINPad, process, and record the result. Online
Credit Verification services can be implemented to reduce the amount of manual processing
by providing Web forms and batch processing facilities. The saving in time frees employees
to perform more useful tasks.
Existing clients of Responsive Systems have indicated that the time taken to process
large batches of recurring credit card transactions with the system is around 5% of the
time taken to process a similar size batch manually. This effectively means that an employee
spending a full day processing credit card payments manually could process the same volume
in around half an hour using our applications. The benefits from this degree of time
saving are obvious.
- Reduced Overheads
- Online Credit Verification allows you to use your existing infrastructure to process
transactions. If you already have an Internet connection and a web browser (without which,
you probably wouldn't be viewing this page) you have all you'll need to process transactions.
You won't need a card reader, and you won't need a separate or dedicated phone line to
connect to the bank.
- Expanded Market
- Internet based e-commerce can provide global marketing at extremely cost effective
rates. In a consumer driven business, this means you can now present you product to
a much larger audience than by alternative means such as print media, for a lower cost.
The acceptance of major credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard and Bankcard allows purchases
to be made in real time across the globe. It also works for across the street. Ignoring
the geographic expansion provided by Internet payment facilities, the number of people
using credit cards for reward points and other incentives makes purchasing items on the
cards more attractive, and often easier for the customer than paying cash.
- Faster Service
- E-mail is faster than postal mail. Placing an order by postal mail will usually cause
a delay of around two working days to reach the order processing centre. An e-mail or Web
based form can have the order ready to process in seconds. The faster you receive orders,
the quicker they can be processed and dispatched. Whether this is goods being shipped,
or services arranged, quicker response makes happier clients which leads to return trade
and positive referrals.
It comes down to two things. When done properly, e-commerce will help save
time, and therefore money, and will allow you to increase revenue by expanding
your market and improving service delivery.
