Book Reviews
Journal of Website Promotion Vol 1(1)
Richard Nelson (ed)
2005 The Hawthorne Press Inc. and Best Business Books and Internet Practice Press, Binghamton NY
Noel Tracey
School of Management, Queensland University of Technology, QLD
Of the many journals available relating to best practices on the web - an ever growing body of literature, this journal brings together much of the needed commentary for the development of electronic commerce in a variety of domains. A brief read of the contents page alone provides the reader with an understanding of the increasingly broad criteria required to develop sound e-commerce strategies. Articles in this volume will assist both the researcher and the novice in understanding many of the complex issues in the development of successful websites. For example, topics in this issue alone cover e-relationship management, online bill payment, consumer expectations, the role of intranets in employee communication, even an empirical study on the effect of site design in charity fundraising.
The first article considers how to manage the costs of customer acquisition in relation to efficient lead generation for high-ticket items. Of particular interest to any person contemplating an online channel the author investigates web-metrics in relation to customer acquisition, return on investment (ROI) and the creation of Microsites. Microsites are credited in this case as being able to deliver information about a particular promotion to those that need it, rapidly, and remove the need for potential clients to ‘search' through a large corporate site in order to access the information they were interested in and possibly linked to initially. The concluding point in this article reinforces the need for attention to, not merely ROI, but the costs of conversion as compared to other alternatives including the common channels of, radio, television and print media.
Business to Business (B2B) relationships are possibly the most important to maintain, and the most difficult to create, particularly in online environments. Reber and Fosdick empirically investigate a number of crucial research questions in relation to development and maintenance of relationships within the B2B context, including the impact websites have on trust and loyalty between businesses and their vendors. The research indicates that only 24% of respondents (N=517) indicated that their business conducted B2B e-commerce, despite the hype found in many organisations' press releases. It should be noted that the initial survey was executed in 2001. The most important conclusion in relation to this research shows that by focusing on the organisations' intentions, rather than merely site content, a much deeper understanding of commitment to B2B relationship management, as opposed to identifying site functionality, has been provided.
A relatively short article by Falk, Sockel and Chen asks the most common question in the development of e-commerce initiatives, ‘What makes a website work?' With the loss of novelty among even newer users to the web suggesting that it is no longer about having a site listed on every search engine, looking pretty, or disseminating mountains of information, a focus on building relationships, and ultimately ‘making money' is becoming paramount to success. The authors provide a number of examples that highlight the need to understand the particular market under consideration, the level of ‘ease' as perceived by the end user (not the developer) and the role of customer loyalty as a fundamental tenet of success in the online market place. Ultimately success is reliant upon the combination of meeting customer expectations, following sound business etiquette, ensuring usability and technical maturity are the new challenges marketers and developers alike must overcome.
Usually literature on e-commerce considers issues that relate primarily to external communication, that is, with suppliers, vendors, or customers (Laudon & Laudon 2000; Kalkota & Whinston 1997). The next article approaches e-commerce from an internal perspective and uses an empirical approach to identify employee' preference for information sources. Twenty-one large organisations were surveyed with data consolidated to enhance comparability across as many as thirty information source options. An intriguing outcome of the research showed that merely having a multitude of electronic sources doesn't necessarily reduce the preference for traditional printed media and that subject matter was also a factor in the selection of a preferred option. Sinickas concludes her article with comments relating to future research and indicates that managers' time in general is well spent by ensuring that appropriate information is available to employees on the corporate intranets.
Much of the discussion so far in this review revolves around increasing conversion rates and establishing and maintaining relationships with potential customers. The study by Schimmel and Nicholls is vital in identifying what actually drives a customer to shop online in the first instance. Following a brief literature review, the authors explain their methodology as consisting of a phone survey of 308 respondents in seven cities using both professional interviewers and a computer assisted telephone system (CATI) to code the information. Results indicated that traditional channels were more likely to drive traffic to the website, as opposed to computer mediated methods. This knowledge is integral in assisting e-commerce implementers in ensuring that the most appropriate method is used and that they get the best possible return on their advertising investment.
With a focus on efficiency, businesses in a wide variety of industries, not to mention government, have began to accept online bill payment as the norm rather than traditional methods of payment (Schneider 2006: 491). The strength of relationships with consumers, including business to business clients, can easily be improved by providing this service through a number of easily accessible formats. Bednarz, Bergiel and Balsmeier highlight ten consumer benefits of electronic bill payment and presentation (EBPP) as including: time savings; convenient access from any location with a computer and WWW access; even the ability to send e-mail reminders of billing dates with a view to reduce late payment and improve cash flow. They also highlight some of the downsides to EBPP as including initial cost and continued monthly charges to some banks and suppliers of software, the need for the consumer to have access to a computer they may need to purchase, and the loss of ‘float' - the ability to write the cheque before the cash is actually in the account. The authors conclude that EBPP is still in its infancy and will continue to grow as greater security is included and the market place adapts to include those consumers who have grown up with computers since an early age.
The Journal of Website Promotion creatively combines a multitude of interesting and relevant articles on the development of e-commerce solutions for both small business and large organisations. Many of the questions asked by business today are answered succinctly, with both theoretical and practical examples provided to highlight the issues under consideration. It is easy to recommend this publication to anyone considering the development of e-commerce solutions as it goes beyond merely ‘promotion' and delves into the often ignored issues of site development and relationship building.
References
Kalkota R and Whinston A (1997) Electronic Commerce: A manager's guide. Addison-Wesley Longman: USA.
Laudon K and Laudon J (2000) Management Information Systems: Organization and Technology in the networked enterprise (6th edn), Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Schneider G (2006) Electronic Commerce (6th edn), Thomson Course technology: Boston, MA.
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