|
Did the dot com crash signal the end of
the Internet age? No, but it has drastically changed
the tone of media coverage, which had elevated many of
the netpreneurs into poster boys and girls of the new
economy. The April dot com stock melt-down returned business
modeling to a base of business sense, rather than a mad
rush to land-grabbing in the Internet-defined market
place. "If it doesn't make cents, it doesn't make
sense:" Fortune magazine's comment proclaims an
about-face of stories in the press.
The Internet has not succeeded in
totally eliminating the middle person in business transactions,
though consumers
have adopted the Web at an astonishingly rapid rate compared
with other innovations such as the telephone or television.
The Internet is a great place to research and comparison
shop, but for many, a physical shop is where money is
spent. For successful "brick-and-mortar" companies
that have proactively embraced the Internet, this "incumbent" advantage
is an incredibly powerful weapon indeed. Unlike Internet
companies, the incumbents already have name recognition,
established relationships with vendors, a customer base,
and an infrastructure to provide customer service. They
do not have to face the daunting and expensive task of
customer acquisition.
The dot com fever, supported by billions of venture
capital dollars, has done a lot of good for such Net
savvy businesses in the brick-and-mortar or click-and-mortar
economy. First of all, many technical innovations have
been funded helping to build the Web infrastructure and
enhancing user experiences. The immense amount spent
on marketing has brought people online and encouraged
them to use the Internet for everything from checking
the traffic to following the latest breaking news to
buying flowers for Valentine's Day to voting. People's
behavior has changed. Their perception of the Internet
as a credible source for information has also risen to
just behind that of the newspaper. The vast change in
consumer attitude and behavior in a relatively short
span of time is nothing short of amazing.
With a critical mass of customers, businesses, suppliers,
and the public sector online, the Web has truly transformed
itself into a viable marketplace. The influx of finances
and talent into the Internet in the past five years has
established a trend which is now here to stay. It has
changed business processes for good, transformed how
business is done, and rewritten the rules of winning
and losing in the marketplace. But we can see now that
the new economy is more of a new set of rules for incumbent
businesses than a new paradigm for brand new Internet
companies.
What are the lessons to be learned? First and foremost
is the need to anticipate and meet the needs of your
customers. Adopt and embrace Internet technologies even
though they may not seem yet be the norms in the industry.
Realize that customers are much more Web-ready and yet
less Internet-savvy than most businesses have recognized.
The people who make or influence buying decisions are
mostly already using the Internet. But today's Internet
users are less likely to be technologically adventurous
and tolerant than the early adopters. They are more likely
to view the Web as a tool than an adventure. Your Web
site has to offer value to your customers, not just flashy
technologies that are more prone to crash your customers'
computers than to engage their interest.
Smart companies are still investing in developing their
e-business strategies and technologies. They recognize
the power of the Internet as a medium to create and build
relationships with customers, and to reduce costs through
streamlining business operations. The dot com crash is
not all bad. Business rules have changed. But these are
welcome changes for hard-working, fast-growing companies
that keep their business sense intact.
Copyright Eva Chiu and InfoAdvantage.
E-Business
Articles >
|
