E-Commerce For Everyone

Now that online banner advertising has secured its permanent fixture on web sites, many are now focusing on the transaction piece of the Internet business puzzle. E-commerce has been a hot topic for a number of years, but it has never been more apparent to the consumer than it is now. Web sites are becoming more friendly, secure, and more businesses are selling online.

IBM is running a significant number of television ads touting its small e-business solutions, though I seriously doubt it has more than a handful of small business customers. E-commerce vendors that truly are servicing the small business segment include ViaWeb - http://www.viaweb.com (recently purchased by Yahoo!) and iCat Corporation - http://www.icat.com. They both offer secure online shopping cart technology which normally requires a programmers expertise, but can be setup by point-and-click, for as low as $100 or less a month. iCat even lets someone start selling 10 or less items for free! These companies offer small businesses the opportunity to experiment and learn what it takes to sell online for a minimal monthly fee and without the significant up-front technology investment.

The Viaweb acquisition gives Yahoo! an additional revenue stream, the ability to develop closer relationships with merchants, and another ingredient in helping it become the dominant portal site. Yahoo! has re-launched Viaweb as the Yahoo! Store.

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Kevin Burke

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