Blog : How To Take Advantage Of Online Self Service

There are multiple factors that help determine the economic value that traditional companies place on the Internet. These factors include the coincidence of the online user and company bases, prices, cost structures, or the increase in commercial exchanges.

Without a doubt, the economic aspect -more than the technology itself- favors the adoption of these new technologies, which has caused the Internet to have a greater impact in some economic sectors than in others.

The Source of Ecommerce Success: Indeed, there are multiple factors that have caused the exponential boom in electronic commerce in recent years, but there is one that stands out above all others: the ease that self-service brings to consumers, facilitating help and interactivity. That is why the areas with the highest growth in electronic commerce have been the industries in which this 'self-service' has not been available until the advent of the Internet.

A simple example is the case of Stockbrokers. Currently, customers can make their investments directly through the Internet. Similar effects have taken place in sectors such as travel agencies or car sales. Although the number of airline tickets sold on the Internet still do not represent even 5% of the total, between 10 and 30% of purchases are based on the search for information and the decision-making made by browsing the Internet.

An opportunity that we should not give up: Other growth areas for sale through the Internet, such as the publishing or IT sectors, have already achieved levels of penetration in the online market of between 2 and 5%. In these specific sectors, the situation is different, since self-service already existed prior to the appearance of the Internet. However, the difference between the physical and online markets lies in the fact that interactivity is much greater through the Internet.

This great opportunity has contributed the most to the growth of e-commerce sales in these areas. For this reason, we must decide what we want to sell online and plan the activity of our online store based on this principle of self-service.

Whenever we can, we must choose to locate ourselves in sectors where the consumer does not enjoy the possibility of serving himself in the traditional market.