Implementing E-Commerce Strategies

After a decade of treating the topic of e-commerce with awe and confusion we can now step back and analyze the subject more objectively. From launching an electronic storefront to managing complex supply chain operations most companies have ventured into e-commerce; but even the best-run bricks-and-mortar enterprises have run into snags in the virtual world. Even mighty Wal-Mart for example took its website through several redesigns and sales strategies and Borders eventually outsourced its Internet sales activites to rival Amazon. Despite the horror stories of abysmal customer service lost information catastrophic meltdowns and the excesses of the dot boom the Internet is now an essential tool and medium for conducting business. Today the key question is not whether your firm should invest in e-commerce but how you can do so most profitably.In Implementing E-Commerce Strategies Marc Epstein goes beyond the hype to focus on the practical angles of designing executing and successfully managing an e-commerce strategy that works for your company. While many books have addressed the what and why of e-commerce Epstein zeroes in on the elusive how. Showcasing the experiences of 32 companies (both successes and failures) in a wide variety of industries he explores such issues as corporate culture and strong leadership from the executive suite integrating e-commerce into corporate strategy aligning goals accountabilities and performance metrics to support e-commerce initiatives and building systems that can measure the value of your e-commerce investments. No business can avoid e-commerceand its capacity for creating spectacular opportunities or wasting precious time and resources. How your firm handles these challenges may very well determine whether or not it will survive.