E-Commerce

Your business can be open for business 24 hours a day around the world with Information Highway's e-commerce and virtual storefront solutions.

What is e-commerce?

e-commerce is what happens when you combine the broad reach of the Internet with the vast resources of traditional information technology systems. It uses the Web to bring together customers, vendors, and suppliers in ways never before possible. e-commerce is here and presents abundant opportunities. Companies around the world already buy and sell over the Internet. They connect with customers, suppliers and each other. They do business on the web, and consequently, they do more business. There are challenges like security, scalability and reliability. They are real, but they are surmountable. e-commerce is about web-enabling your core business processes to improve customer service, reduce cycle time, get more results from limited resources, and actually sell things. It offers new sets of opportunities, needs, rules, and challenges, all of which Information Highway  is uniquely suited to address.  Are you ready for e-commerce?

European wholesaler Supervox Groupe, for example, web-enabled its 8,000-item product catalog, thus creating an automated supply chain that serves a whole new market segment. As a result, the company expects an $8 million increase in annual revenue. Because they were ready to do business with an "e", Supervox was able to do more business with a "p" -- for profit.

Types of e-commerce

There are many types of electronic commerce, typically divided into two major segments: business-to-business and business-to-consumer. These represent many varied transaction types, from on-line stock purchases and corporate purchasing using EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to downloading software or buying flowers over the Internet. Information Highway's' e-commerce program is currently focused on providing solutions to businesses selling to consumers.

What are the risks to consumers?

In almost every case with VISA and MasterCard the consumer has no risk when their credit card has been used fraudulently. In order to further protect the electronic shopper, Information Highway has designed it's e-commerce package around a very robust security model that includes the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for encryption of the shoppers transaction with the e-commerce enables web, and Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) for encryption of the traffic between the web site and Paymentech. As an additional layer of protection.

The electronic economy is on its way. And information Highway is in the forefront. Information Highway has the answers and products you need to position your business today to capitalize tomorrow.

• How do you commerce enable your Web site?
• Should you design your own Web page or outsource it?
• Do off-the-shelf solutions exist?
• Should you join an electronic mall or create a stand-alone site?
• What types of transaction methods and technologies are best suited to your needs?

Information Highway's e-commerce team is here to help answer your questions and set you on the road to the digital age.