Downloads - empirica

e-Business in the chemical, rubber and plastics industrySummary of key points: ICT for marketing and salesA forecast of the earlier e-Business Watch study can be confirmed: there has been asignificant uptake of e-commerce activity in the past few years in the CRP industries. Thisdynamic development is likely to continue, as there is room for further diffusion. A majortrend in this context is the move from focusing on e-transactions to providing "esolutions".More companies offer products online: about a third of all companies –irrespective of their size– enable customers to order products online. In 2003, only10% said they sold products online.Average share of online orders has increased: the average share of orders thatare received online has significantly increased since 2003.Increasing use of extranet portals: the large players in particular increasinglymaintain sophisticated extranet portals for their clients; modern extranets offercustomers a holistic view of their orders and access to all kinds of order-relatedinformation. This is a vital element of a general trend to use ICT not only toaccomplish e-transactions, but to provide comprehensive services ("e-solutions") tocustomers.Customer requirements drive e-business developments: 45-50% of mediumsizedand large firms report that customers asked them to adapt their ICT systemsor data exchange formats in order to facilitate data exchange with them. More than80% of those firms have reacted to this request and introduced changes.89