As director of TWA's e-commerce, John Gunby has been closely involved in all aspects of redesigning and adding information to the new TWA.com. Here are some of his observations about the new website and how it is one more tangible reminder of TWA's philosophy that customer service is its number one priority.
Q: TWA has had a website for five years. What guided TWA's approach to its new site?
A: We have three objectives for our new site: ease of use, convenience and customer service. The new TWA.com now makes it easier to book a ticket in fewer clicks than the old site and provides the convenience of new features such as offering car rentals, hotel reservations and the ability to choose your seat from an interactive seat map.
Q: Why does the new TWA site include the ability to book hotel reservations, car rentals and tickets on other airlines?
A: We wanted our new site to be a one-stop shopping experience for our customers' travel needs. Instead of just selling TWA tickets, we wanted to give our customers the opportunity to add a car rental and hotel reservation, making it an easy, convenient way of booking a trip. We also realize that sometimes our customers need to fly a certain route not serviced by TWA, at a specific time that may be better served by another airline or at a lower price available by flying indirect. In these cases we now offer our customers the opportunity to book a seat on another airline at the same published price offered by booking with that airline directly. It's part of our focus on customer service.
Q: Is it easy to book tickets online? Are there any "tricks" to using TWA's new booking engine?
A: TWA's new booking engine makes purchasing tickets online a breeze. You can find the booking engine in two areas of the new TWA.com. Firstly, a quick search facility is prominently placed on the home page under "Search for a Flight" and is a simple and easy way to search and book flights Secondly, we have placed our more detailed booking engine in our reservations section found in the main navigation bar on the left of the home page. To use the booking engine, all you need to do is search for the flights that best suit you. Then if you decide to book, you will be asked for your user name and your password, which is exclusively yours. A booking is only complete when you have given your credit card details and have confirmed that this is the flight, car and hotel you wish to book.
Q: What are the advantages of booking online?
A: In a nutshell, booking online is easier and more convenient than any other method of purchasing tickets. You can book a flight in your own home or at the office in a matter of minutes. If you Want to change your travel plans, the same rules apply to purchasing your ticket online as making reservations on the telephone. Your confirmation and itinerary will be sent to you via e-mail and can be printed for your convenience. We even offer access to our exclusive special fares on TWA.com called Dot Com Deals [SM] that are available every Tuesday and the Dot Com Deals [SM] Plus that are available at other times. To ensure you don't miss out on the Dot Com Deals, we e-mail these to subscribers each week. All we need is your e-mail address.
Q: Has TWA planned anything special to introduce the new TWA.com to its customers?
A: On August 28 TWA.com will feature a broadcast using streaming video with TWA President and CEO Bill Compton speaking about the new TWA.com. For a three-month period, the site also has a tour of the booking process using flash animation, which has been produced by Yahoo! Broadcast. We are also celebrating our new website and our 75th anniversary with a contest giving away a free pair of round-trip tickets to any domestic TWA destination each day. All you have to do is go to TWA.com and guess which TWA destination is featured in the photo. We select a winner each day from all entries. No booking is necessary to enter and you can play once a day for 75 days.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Online uptick: the construction supply industry is hardly a burgeoning hub of e-commerce, but dealers and pros are starting to connect electronically
Like many custom home builders, Peter Reich in Shelter Island, N.Y., works long, hard hours. By the time he's done at the jobsite, managing his six-man crew and following up with customers, it's usually well past the end of the business day--which is why he likes being able to go online at night to write orders with his lumber supplier, Riverhead Building Supply of Riverhead, N.Y.
"I'm usually doing paperwork at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, when there's not going to be anybody at the other end of the phone line" says Reich, a partner at Reich/Ecklund Construction, which builds approximately three $1 million-plus homes a year. "So, if I'm doing a deck and I want some ACQ framing, stainless steel nails, and 1,000 feet of five-quarter ipe decking, I'll just do it online. Then, magically, it shows up the next day. It's great."
Of course, Riverhead's magic--and the fact that Reich is willing to use it--is still the exception, not the rule, in the construction supply business. While nearly 48 percent of respondents to the 2005 ProSales 100 Annual Survey of Leading Construction Suppliers plan to offer click-and-buy capabilities to their customers, only 14 percent do so now.
But breakouts like Riverhead continue to emerge. In April, $36.5 billion Lowe's Cos. of Mooresville, N.C., issued a press release touting its point-and-click online purchasing option for dimensional lumber. The firm declined to comment for this story on the uptake of that program, citing its "quiet period" before releasing quarterly earnings to Wall Street, but confirmed that delivery fees for lumber "vary from $45 to $150, depending on the market," according to Lowe's public relations spokesperson Jennifer Smith.
Shipping costs have been a sticking point for e-commerce in the construction supply business, especially among pros who are used to free delivery to the jobsite. Fort Wayne, Ind.--based Do it Best Corp. has tackled the issue with its Ship-to-Store program, which routes online orders, free of charge, to the closest member store where customers can pick them up. At 37-unit Do it Best member Lampert Yards, a $245 million operation based in St. Paul, Minn., pros can have those orders added to their daily truck. "If it is a pro contractor, we would call and ask them if they wanted it shipped to the jobsite. Then we'd add it to their next delivery," says Pam Leier, vice president of marketing at Lampert. The program has boosted Lampert's online orders, both pro and consumer, by 25 percent in the past year, according to Leier. "That's pretty typical in terms of volume increase among our members" says Debbie Wagner, e-commerce member services coordinator for Do it Best. "Members that participate in Ship-to-Store love it because it has generated more traffic to their sites."
Still, dealers who are using online purchase orders with pros admit it's only a small part of their business. At Riverhead, for instance, marketing director Mike Kochanasz says the $194 million, 10-unit firm is only tracking about 10 online orders a month. "It's still pretty miniscule," Kochanasz says. But order generation isn't necessarily why the company made the online leap. "It was really more to give customers information they were looking for after hours. They can prepare an estimate, put together an order, or access their account to check their balance without involving our personnel" Kochanasz says.
That is exactly what hardworking customers like Reich are looking for. "If I'm working on an estimate at night and I need a couple of numbers to finish it, it's right there," he says. "That's nice, because if you had to wait to get somebody on the phone in the morning, you'd be on the road and it wouldn't get done"
"I'm usually doing paperwork at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, when there's not going to be anybody at the other end of the phone line" says Reich, a partner at Reich/Ecklund Construction, which builds approximately three $1 million-plus homes a year. "So, if I'm doing a deck and I want some ACQ framing, stainless steel nails, and 1,000 feet of five-quarter ipe decking, I'll just do it online. Then, magically, it shows up the next day. It's great."
Of course, Riverhead's magic--and the fact that Reich is willing to use it--is still the exception, not the rule, in the construction supply business. While nearly 48 percent of respondents to the 2005 ProSales 100 Annual Survey of Leading Construction Suppliers plan to offer click-and-buy capabilities to their customers, only 14 percent do so now.
But breakouts like Riverhead continue to emerge. In April, $36.5 billion Lowe's Cos. of Mooresville, N.C., issued a press release touting its point-and-click online purchasing option for dimensional lumber. The firm declined to comment for this story on the uptake of that program, citing its "quiet period" before releasing quarterly earnings to Wall Street, but confirmed that delivery fees for lumber "vary from $45 to $150, depending on the market," according to Lowe's public relations spokesperson Jennifer Smith.
Shipping costs have been a sticking point for e-commerce in the construction supply business, especially among pros who are used to free delivery to the jobsite. Fort Wayne, Ind.--based Do it Best Corp. has tackled the issue with its Ship-to-Store program, which routes online orders, free of charge, to the closest member store where customers can pick them up. At 37-unit Do it Best member Lampert Yards, a $245 million operation based in St. Paul, Minn., pros can have those orders added to their daily truck. "If it is a pro contractor, we would call and ask them if they wanted it shipped to the jobsite. Then we'd add it to their next delivery," says Pam Leier, vice president of marketing at Lampert. The program has boosted Lampert's online orders, both pro and consumer, by 25 percent in the past year, according to Leier. "That's pretty typical in terms of volume increase among our members" says Debbie Wagner, e-commerce member services coordinator for Do it Best. "Members that participate in Ship-to-Store love it because it has generated more traffic to their sites."
Still, dealers who are using online purchase orders with pros admit it's only a small part of their business. At Riverhead, for instance, marketing director Mike Kochanasz says the $194 million, 10-unit firm is only tracking about 10 online orders a month. "It's still pretty miniscule," Kochanasz says. But order generation isn't necessarily why the company made the online leap. "It was really more to give customers information they were looking for after hours. They can prepare an estimate, put together an order, or access their account to check their balance without involving our personnel" Kochanasz says.
That is exactly what hardworking customers like Reich are looking for. "If I'm working on an estimate at night and I need a couple of numbers to finish it, it's right there," he says. "That's nice, because if you had to wait to get somebody on the phone in the morning, you'd be on the road and it wouldn't get done"
Willingness to Pay for Information Programs about E-Commerce: Results from a Convenience Sample of Rural Louisiana Businesses
The probability of a business paying various amounts of money for an e-commerce presence ultimately depends on demographic features, experiences with e-commerce from a buyer's and seller's perspective, technological expertise, and knowledge of e-commerce opportunities and limitations. Estimating functions to assign probabilities associated with the willingness to pay for an e-commerce presence will assist in forecasting regional likelihood of certain profiles paying various monetary amounts for an e-commerce presence. In addition, if services are provided at no cost by a third party, value to a society will be maximized by selecting profiles with the highest willingness to pay.
Key Words: e-commerce, internet, rural businesses, technology, willingness to pay
JEL Classifications: A14, C25, D21, O13, O14, O33, Q16
An ongoing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fund for Rural America, Rural Community Innovation project, called the Delta Ecommerce Connection (DECC), is creating diversified economic opportunities over a 4-year period for small agricultural and other rural businesses in the Lower Mississippi Delta by assisting in e-commerce business development. The project offers seminars featuring a set of three educational training modules that relate e-commerce to rural entrepreneurs in a practical fashion. In addition, technical support in website development, developing an Internet marketing strategy, electronic retailing services, and space on a secure server are provided to selected rural businesses for a period of 1 year. Businesses retaining websites after this time assume responsibility for maintaining and funding their site. During the DECC seminars, the cost structure of e-commerce has always been a topic of great interest for participants. Due to the lack of information and understanding about businesses' willingness to pay for e-commerce products in rural areas, a survey was developed to gauge the value participants placed on the new opportunity. Specific objectives were to determine what representative businesses from rural Louisiana would pay for a seminar offering information about e-commerce, and a bundle of goods, including technical assistance for building an e-commerce website, and tutoring in the technical skills used to develop and maintain their own website. Elasticities and marginal effects associated with respondent's willingness to pay were measured as well.
Background
Increased Internet use has drastically altered the way business is conducted. Current Internet use is 186 million users in the United States and 945 million worldwide. In the year 2007, projections for U.S. and worldwide Internet use are 230 million and 1,466 million people, respectively (eTForecasts.com). The United States once had almost 90% of worldwide users in the mid-1980s; however, the percentage of users has continued to drop through time, with approximately 20% of users in 2004. There are many forces adding to the growth of the Internet in other countries, as well as the United States, including web cellular phones, prepaid Internet access cards, broadband Internet connection, wireless Internet access, e-commerce for mobile devices (M-commerce), Internet cafes in developing countries, declining Internet service provider rates, bundled services, web appliances and interactive web TV, among others (eTForecasts.com).
E-commerce sales are approximately 1.9% of total retail sales (U.S. Department of Commerce), with the greatest revenue stemming from computer hardware, furniture, software, books, music, videos, office supplies, food/ beverages, and airlines tickets (Abate and Moser). According to the Nelsen-Net ratings, who conduct analysis and measurement on Internet audiences, the average American spends 80 minutes on-line at work and 26 minutes online at home daily, both spending approximately 1 minute per web page (NeilsenNetRatings.com). This is not much time for a business to convince a consumer to make a purchase, much less, allow them to conduct the transaction. E-commerce requires a different approach as compared with the traditional brick and mortar business with respect to sales.
E-commerce provides an excellent opportunity for many smaller businesses. Entry costs into the marketplace are lowered, allowing businesses to compete on an international forum (Dutta and Evrard; Poone and Swatman; Webb and Sayer). Many new electronic businesses have developed because of this potential (Motiwall and Khan). Successful businesses have several features in common. They respond to website features that most consumers prefer, such as stock availability, privacy, customer service, order-tracking capabilities, and providing detailed product information (Post et al.). However, three of every four online businesses fail in the first 2 years, indicating a need to develop and administer a strategic business model tailored to an e-commerce platform (Paper et al.)· In rural economies, this failure rate is even higher and it becomes necessary to determine what e-commerce products, educational information, and services are worth to these smaller companies (Small Business Administration [SBA]). Recent studies have explored consumer willingness to pay for Internet services, but not the sellers' willingness to pay for e-commerce services (Blefari-Melazzi et al.; Chellappa and Shivendu; Jiang; Lee et al.; Sultan; Suri et al.). There is a lack of information and understanding about what small businesses, particularly rural businesses, would be willing to pay for this opportunity to overcome geographic handicaps and compete with larger companies.
Key Words: e-commerce, internet, rural businesses, technology, willingness to pay
JEL Classifications: A14, C25, D21, O13, O14, O33, Q16
An ongoing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fund for Rural America, Rural Community Innovation project, called the Delta Ecommerce Connection (DECC), is creating diversified economic opportunities over a 4-year period for small agricultural and other rural businesses in the Lower Mississippi Delta by assisting in e-commerce business development. The project offers seminars featuring a set of three educational training modules that relate e-commerce to rural entrepreneurs in a practical fashion. In addition, technical support in website development, developing an Internet marketing strategy, electronic retailing services, and space on a secure server are provided to selected rural businesses for a period of 1 year. Businesses retaining websites after this time assume responsibility for maintaining and funding their site. During the DECC seminars, the cost structure of e-commerce has always been a topic of great interest for participants. Due to the lack of information and understanding about businesses' willingness to pay for e-commerce products in rural areas, a survey was developed to gauge the value participants placed on the new opportunity. Specific objectives were to determine what representative businesses from rural Louisiana would pay for a seminar offering information about e-commerce, and a bundle of goods, including technical assistance for building an e-commerce website, and tutoring in the technical skills used to develop and maintain their own website. Elasticities and marginal effects associated with respondent's willingness to pay were measured as well.
Background
Increased Internet use has drastically altered the way business is conducted. Current Internet use is 186 million users in the United States and 945 million worldwide. In the year 2007, projections for U.S. and worldwide Internet use are 230 million and 1,466 million people, respectively (eTForecasts.com). The United States once had almost 90% of worldwide users in the mid-1980s; however, the percentage of users has continued to drop through time, with approximately 20% of users in 2004. There are many forces adding to the growth of the Internet in other countries, as well as the United States, including web cellular phones, prepaid Internet access cards, broadband Internet connection, wireless Internet access, e-commerce for mobile devices (M-commerce), Internet cafes in developing countries, declining Internet service provider rates, bundled services, web appliances and interactive web TV, among others (eTForecasts.com).
E-commerce sales are approximately 1.9% of total retail sales (U.S. Department of Commerce), with the greatest revenue stemming from computer hardware, furniture, software, books, music, videos, office supplies, food/ beverages, and airlines tickets (Abate and Moser). According to the Nelsen-Net ratings, who conduct analysis and measurement on Internet audiences, the average American spends 80 minutes on-line at work and 26 minutes online at home daily, both spending approximately 1 minute per web page (NeilsenNetRatings.com). This is not much time for a business to convince a consumer to make a purchase, much less, allow them to conduct the transaction. E-commerce requires a different approach as compared with the traditional brick and mortar business with respect to sales.
E-commerce provides an excellent opportunity for many smaller businesses. Entry costs into the marketplace are lowered, allowing businesses to compete on an international forum (Dutta and Evrard; Poone and Swatman; Webb and Sayer). Many new electronic businesses have developed because of this potential (Motiwall and Khan). Successful businesses have several features in common. They respond to website features that most consumers prefer, such as stock availability, privacy, customer service, order-tracking capabilities, and providing detailed product information (Post et al.). However, three of every four online businesses fail in the first 2 years, indicating a need to develop and administer a strategic business model tailored to an e-commerce platform (Paper et al.)· In rural economies, this failure rate is even higher and it becomes necessary to determine what e-commerce products, educational information, and services are worth to these smaller companies (Small Business Administration [SBA]). Recent studies have explored consumer willingness to pay for Internet services, but not the sellers' willingness to pay for e-commerce services (Blefari-Melazzi et al.; Chellappa and Shivendu; Jiang; Lee et al.; Sultan; Suri et al.). There is a lack of information and understanding about what small businesses, particularly rural businesses, would be willing to pay for this opportunity to overcome geographic handicaps and compete with larger companies.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
The EDA E-Commerce Revolution: The Time Is Now - Model Technology's services - Company Business and Marketing
I find it ironic that the electronic design automation (EDA) industry, which prides itself on being the technology engine that drives the worldwide electronics boom, remains on the lagging edge of technology when it comes to distributing products. On one hand, we enable the deep sub-micron revolution that fuels the global economy. On the other hand, however, our distribution strategies remain archaic.
The rest of the business world has moved rapidly toward more efficient distribution methods, most notably electronic commerce. Last year, consumers bought more than $7 billion worth of products online. Business-to-business sales were six times that much.
Today, we can purchase everything from books to automobiles online. But not EDA software tools. For some reason, our industry has been trapped in a distribution time warp, unable to free itself. But this January, Model Technology Inc., a subsidiary of Mentor Graphics Corporation, broke free of the time warp and began offering its line of ModelSim simulation products through its online store.
We decided to sell via E-commerce for three reasons. First, to make it more convenient for our existing customers to purchase our tools. Second, to make our products and underlying technology available to a wider range of electronic designers, not just those at the top level of the design spectrum. Finally, because we could. After firmly establishing the value of our products in the marketplace, Model Technology does not require an extensive sales cycle.
The Internet as a sales tool can no longer be ignored. It must be recognized as an important addition to the traditional distribution network. As the EDA industry matures, more products will lend themselves to a low cost distribution model. The time to exploit the benefits of online sales is now. A true multi-tiered distribution network must include a combination of traditional sales and relationship building, distributors and affiliates, telesales and online sales. In the case of Model Technology, selling online makes it possible for us to offer our simulation technology to the full range of ASIC and FPGA hardware description language designers, regardless of their design complexities or price sensitivities.
Typically, large EDA vendors devote their sales forces to selling only to the largest accounts, making it cost prohibitive to handle small orders profitably. The next level of customer is either ignored, or perhaps serviced by independent distributors. By adding online sales to our multi-tiered distribution network, Model Technology can take its sophisticated technology used in the most complex environments, and sell it to companies working in simpler design environments where only one seat is necessary, and at a price point that is extremely aggressive.
E-commerce helps EDA vendors reduce order cycle times and order processing costs. They can process more transactions faster and reduce errors. The online delivery method is fast, efficient, safe and available to all. That's why the time is now for EDA vendors to do themselves and their customers the favor of offering their products online.
Easy E-Commerce
Last year's holiday season saw a tremendous upswing in online shopping. Sure, most of it was on big sites like Amazon and those of popular retailers, but there's no reason your store can't get in on the action. We'll show you how you can claim your piece of the e-commerce pie without spending a fortune or being a programming whiz.
The one-stop services we review here will let you easily build and host an online store where customers can buy your products and interact with you directly. They'll feed you new leads and increase return visits. For those who just want to build a site and don't need to sell, we look at services like Tripod and Geocities in the sidebar "Just for Fun: Personal Site Builders."
Once it was enough to post what amounted to an online Yellow Pages ad. But today's tools make it easy for you to design a site, upload your catalog, and start taking orders. For just an afternoon or two of your time and $50 a month in hosting fees, you can open the doors to your virtual store.
In the past, you'd have to find a hosting provider, build your pages with software like Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia's Dreamweaver mx, and then tie into an e-commerce engine like Miva or osCommerce. Now, hosting services with integrated site building and e-commerce let you do it all in one place.
To give you the lowdown on e-commerce hosting solutions suitable for a small business, we evaluated seven services priced at a maximum of $50 a month. You can spend even less, but that often means sacrificing features crucial to many e-commerce operations, such as automatic calculation of tax and shipping charges or the ability to accept credit cards. Of course, you can spend much more—and you may have to if you have a large catalog, need large amounts of disk space or bandwidth, or want more advanced marketing features.
Building your own e-commerce site isn't the only way to sell products over the Web; listing on an auction site like eBay or in an existing marketplace like Yahoo! Stores is a popular alternative, and it can offer the advantage of positioning you squarely in front of a large audience. The hosting solutions give you more control over your presence, though, and some services we tested offer the best of both worlds by linking products on your site to your auction listings and providing search engine placement and e-mail marketing managers. Other advanced features include integration with your existing accounting systems, such as QuickBooks.
For help in planning your site strategy, see the sidebar "12 Tips for a Successful Web Store." If it's time to launch—or simply reinvigorate—your small business's e-commerce efforts, our reviews in the following pages will show you which hosting services deliver the goods.
TELUS and CIBC to form canadian e-commerce digital trust services provider - Business - VeriSign Inc
TELUS and CIBC have entered into an agreement to establish a new, national e-commerce trust services provider that will serve as VeriSign, Inc.'s principal Canadian affiliate. VeriSign, provider of digital trust services, will provide both technology and capital to the new entity formed by TELUS and CIBC. This new entity will provide web site security to enable secure e-commerce; enterprise authentication, which leverages VeriSign's public key infrastructure (PKI) to issue and manage digital credentials for signing transactions; and online merchant payment services, which facilitate settlement of transactions between buyers and sellers.
This initiative forms an independent Canadian company that draws on the expertise of each partner to establish a trusted environment for wired and wireless transactions. TELUS and CIBC currently deliver PKI services in Canada as part of the VerisSign trust network, which uses common technology, operating practices and infrastructure to establish secure communications and transactions on the Internet. Under terms of the alliance, TELUS and CIBC will combine their PKI services to deliver a Canadian national trust infrastructure for secure online and wireless commerce.
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