Quivering mass of Jell-o requires attention to a pair of practical issues about e-commerce: what it really is and who it's for. Only after considering these basics can you determine what your specific e-commerce strategy could or couldn't be, or should or shouldn't be. What follows is my attempt to break down the issues into five statements that I hope will guide your thinking. account eCommerce merchant integration supports ecommerce and shopping cart solutions providing complete ecommerce web site software solution.1. In your business, e-commerce is a concept that is aligned with, if not directly related to, your presence on the Internet. When the Internet was "new," which I define as the time it was opened to the general public as opposed to the academic or scientific world (before Al Gore invented it, right?), everyone "had to have the Internet" to be competitive, and heck, to keep their doors opened. A lot of flutter swirled around getting on the Internet and not nearly enough around what that meant. During this new era, I counseled many a worried business owner about what to do. At that time, the Internet was thought to be a marketing tool-no more, no less. So my counsel went like this: "The Internet is just another way to share information. It's just another tool." My message, then and now, is that the Internet can enable you to sell and deliver products to your customers via a ecommerce merchant account. If it's the appropriate tool, then use it! If it isn't the appropriate tool, then don't use it. 2. E-commerceE-commerce allows you to gather information from customers, while delivering a marketing-and-sales pitch through a Web site. Although the information you gather concerns ecommerce merchant account orders, you can also ask customers or clients questions about who they are, where they want products shipped and billed to, what method of shipping they would like you to use-indeed, just about any question you would like to ask! In addition, ecommerce merchant account could enable you to process credit card information on the Internet, as well as take "cyber cash" from customers. As an information dispensing-and-gathering device, e-commerce becomes a catch-all for using the Internet to conduct business per se. It allows you not only to advertise, market, and sell, but also to keep track of accounts receivables and payables, provide technology support...you get the idea, all from a single source: your Web site. 3. E-commerce can be fully integrated ecommerce and shopping cart solutions or a technical "front-end" to a business that otherwise isn't wired. Once you look at ecommerce and shopping cart solutions, you will need to consider the flow of information from your Web site into your back-office operations. Do you want a customer pushing a button to enter data into your client database, send shipping instructions to a warehouse%2
