📅 PUBLISHED IN 1999 (This article is presented as originally written — a fascinating snapshot of the internet and e-commerce at the dawn of the digital age.)
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Analyzing the meteoric rise of the Internet, its monumental success has been completely inevitable. As it evolved, it gradually encompassed all of Man's endeavors to the extent that today the World Wide Web is involved in every conceivable human activity.
Nonetheless, the mainstay of the web is Electronic Commerce. Every conceivable item or service can be found, examined, sold and bought through electronic pages, known as Websites.
The Scope of Electronic Commerce
From shoes and automobiles to stocks and airline tickets or even hotel reservations — all can be located and traded on the Net. Millions of commercial establishments, small and big industries, organizations, schools, religious denominations, and even single entrepreneurs coexist peacefully on the World Wide Web.
However, their individual success depends not only on the usefulness and quality of their wares or services, but chiefly on the efficacy of their particular Websites. Thus, the design of effective Websites has turned into a new and highly lucrative profession.
The Rise of the Professional Website Designer
In some instances, the advantages of a well-designed Website do quite obviously outweigh most orthodox forms of commerce. In others, the Website designer has to pit his creativeness against the understandably often-desirable advantages of more conventional manners of trade.
Now, according to the masters of the Web, most anyone can design a site. Moreover, in fulfillment of this truest of democratic traditions, the fees for putting a site on the Web are surprisingly minimal. Thus, equally predictably, the number of sites in existence soared virtually overnight into the millions.
This is where the democratic principle appears to have floundered. An overwhelming majority of Website owners discovered that not everyone's endeavors were crowned with the same astounding success. The failure of the many dozens of do-it-yourself books and alleged manuals — all pretending to teach how easy it is to design a Website — only proves that, in fact, the task requires the creative skills of highly innovative, professional operators.
Thus, in the wake of a veritable flood of fiascoes, the freshly minted profession of the specialized Website designer has emerged.
What Makes a Talented Website Designer?
A talented site-designer must possess manifold skills. He or she must be able to:
- Write good copy
- Be well versed in applied psychology
- Have innovative artistic talents
- Have an essential grasp on pertinent laws and regulations
- Be a basically competent computer operator
It is obvious that a really successful Website must effectively focus on the special psychological profile of the targeted customers, on the special goals to be achieved, and on the ease of both navigating the site and efficiently handling essential communication with the client.
In order to comply with these requirements, the first prerequisite determines that a true ivy-league class Website designer must have an absolute grasp of the totality of differences — that is, of all advantages and shortcomings — between Electronic Commerce and every other existing form of trade, from open markets and malls to catalog houses and direct mail.
It certainly doesn't have to be spelled out that the very concept of Electronic Commerce is a fascinating novelty. The fundamental responsibility of Website designers consists in perpetuating this fascination. He or she must avoid at all costs that Websites should follow the usual fate of all novelties — with time their glamour fades, their uniqueness wears off, and they eventually turn into common events.
Thus, a really gifted Website designer must not only be able to grasp the differences between Electronic Commerce and conventional trade, but also be capable of turning these into unquestionable, easy-to-gauge advantages for his or her client. Moreover, such benefits must be flexible in order to be adaptable with elegant smoothness to the markets' incessantly fluctuating needs without ever missing a beat.
Electronic Commerce vs. Traditional Forms of Trade
Now let us examine the differences between Electronic Commerce and traditional forms of trade. We shall begin by appraising both the chief merits and shortcomings of the conventional forms of trade.
Storefront Sales
Advantages:
- The hands-on inspection of the merchandise
- The influence of a skilled salesperson
- The usually immediate availability of the goods or service purchased
Shortcomings:
- The obvious need to spend time and effort shopping through several stores in order to locate the desired goods and most advantageous prices
- Shopping is often also painfully weather-contingent
- The buyer usually has to carry the acquired goods
- The complete process is so time-consuming that the shopping list cannot be entirely completed
Catalog Sales
Advantages:
- Orders can be placed from the comfort of the home
- No salesperson is breathing down one's neck
- Goods are comfortably delivered to the door
Disadvantages:
- The customer cannot examine the merchandise, but must rely on catalog descriptions
- The merchant is at a disadvantage because his client is beyond his reach and wares cannot be praised in person
- It is unknown whether the client will or will not peruse, or at least scan, the catalog
TV Sales
TV sales can be quite effective, but only for very short periods and only for certain types of goods or services. Their advantages are so ephemeral that they are not worth listing.
Door-to-Door Sales
Admittedly a great success a hundred years ago, door-to-door sales do extremely poorly nowadays and are even prohibited in many neighborhoods.
Direct Mail Sales
Direct mail sales — more appropriately called "junk mail" — bring, particularly since the advent of the Internet, such poor returns that their days are definitely numbered.
General Advertising
The value of general advertising through all the well-known exponents of the media — ranging from print and billboards to radio and TV — is certainly undeniable. Nonetheless, none of its modalities, except the meager harvest on TV sales channels, create immediate direct sales. General advertising is also very informative and quite effective in boosting sales through all available functioning outlets.
Thus, the media plays an important role in the design of every Website and, consequently, in the success of their owners.
The Prime Appeal of Electronic Commerce
Having skimmed through the highlights of the most commonly known forms of trade, let us now scrutinize the prime appeal of Electronic Commerce. However, before we examine its uncommon allure, let us take a look at its very few caveats.
A Few Caveats
The main objections of the antagonists to Electronic Commerce focus on the undeniable fact that in the last two years the number of sites soared into the millions. How can one expect — they ask — to be noticed in such a conglomeration?
For those who just aimlessly "surf" the net, the objection is sustainable. However, the corporations or serious businessmen who launch their Websites with clearly designated goals are definitely not interested in the "surfers," and their Websites, equipped with all the state-of-the-art software refinements, can be located with utmost ease by all interested parties.
The design of a highly effective Website is not inexpensive. And this is good. Because, precisely due to the inexpensive fee to put a page on the net, there are many thousands of dilettantes, crackpots, and such who pollute the net. The powerful search-engines roaming the net ensure that each skillfully created Website is extremely easy to find by those who are genuinely interested in what they offer or cover.
The design involves a lot of high-precision work and techniques. The designer is also in charge of activating the site and signing the client up for monitoring its effectiveness. The designer also provides means of promoting the Website on the entire Net. So, just like in any field, a masterpiece is expensive.
The Essential Virtues of a Well-Designed Website
Now let us examine the essential virtues of such a masterpiece. A well-designed Website:
- Allows the consumer to go "interactive" while browsing through the pages of the site
- Offers the possibility to view audible and animated goods or services — thus, the success of a viewing "session" is enormously enhanced by the skill of the design
- Permits the consumer to realize the transaction virtually unaided — from choosing the products to selecting the payment method — making him or her feel secure and confident
- Makes locating a particular Website superb — there are hundreds of powerful search-engines active across the Web, encompassing the entire planet. You don't have to haunt the Yellow Pages for a topic. Typing a few keywords in your browser, the system projects the most appropriate sites on your screen, usually in a few seconds. This service is free for the user.
- Offers unrivaled technical flexibility — a Website can be used virtually for any purpose with unparalleled success. May they be goods or services, politics or religion, a Website can be designed for its particular purpose.
Thus, ultimately, not even the sky's the limit for the success of a Website. Only its design.
What else remains to be said? Oh. I almost forgot. To peruse a Website, you do need a computer…
— Anthony Acosta, PhD
Questions or comments on this article should be directed to anthony@kennedymedia.com
This article was first published on January 19, 1999.