PHP and MySQL Web Development 4th Ed-tqw-_darksiderg

Considering the Types of Commercial Websites
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Sometimes the information is entirely free or supported by advertising. Some information
is provided via subscription or paid for on an individual basis.
Digital goods include e-books and music in electronic formats such as MP3. Stock
library images also can be digitized and downloaded. Computer software does not always
need to be on a CD, inside shrink-wrap. It can be downloaded directly. Services that can
be sold this way include Internet access or web hosting and some professional services
that can be replaced by an expert system.
If you are going to physically ship an item that was ordered from your website, you
have both advantages and disadvantages over digital goods and services. Shipping a physical
item costs money. Digital downloads are nearly free.This means that if you have
something that can be duplicated and sold digitally, the cost to you is similar whether
you sell 1 item or 1,000 items. Of course, there are limits; if you have a sufficient level of
sales and traffic, you will need to invest in more hardware or bandwidth.
Digital products or services can be easy to sell as impulse purchases. If a person orders
a physical item, delivery will take a day or more. In contrast, downloads are usually measured
in seconds or minutes. As a result, immediacy can be a burden on merchants. If you
are delivering a purchase digitally, you need to do it immediately.You cannot manually
oversee the process or spread peaks of activity through the day. Immediate delivery systems
are therefore more open to fraud and are more of a burden on computer resources.
Digital goods and services are ideal for e-commerce, but obviously only a limited
range of goods and services can be delivered this way.
Adding Value to Goods or Services
Some successful areas of commercial websites do not actually sell any goods or services.
Services such as courier companies’ (UPS at http://www.ups.com or Fedex at
http://www.fedex.com) tracking services are not generally designed to directly make a
profit.They add value to the existing services offered by the organization. Providing a
facility for customers to track their parcels or bank balances can give your company a
competitive advantage if you do it early or can become an expected service in your
industry.
Support forums also fall into this category.There are sound commercial reasons for
giving customers a discussion area to share troubleshooting tips about your company’s
products. Customers might be able to solve their problems by looking at solutions given
to others, international customers can get support without paying for long-distance
phone calls, and customers might be able to answer one another’s questions outside your
office hours. Providing support in this way can increase your customers’ satisfaction at a
low cost.
Cutting Costs
One popular use of the Internet is to cut costs. Savings could result from distributing
information online, facilitating communication, replacing services, or centralizing operations.