It's been a long hard road for 'Ecommerce'; the early days of online shopping were fraught with problems raised that hadn't existed before. A brand new way of consumerism, processing 'live' transactions, in some instances requiring a steep learning curve and logistic and infrastructure problems.

In addition the 'Tech-Wreck' of 2001, the closure of many online retailers, (David Jones downsized considerably), and initial loss of faith in concepts such as Amazon that was in the red for many years, (until 2002), didn't help consumer optimism.

But now it appears shopping online has finally been given the nod of approval it deserves. Optimism abounds as many businesses - no matter how big or small - integrate online ordering system of one sort or another into their websites. In fact the number of Australians shopping online has doubled over the past two years and that equates to 1 in 3 internet users making purchases online every month. 

So just what are the benefits of being able to buy good's and services online? Quite simply it's a quick & easy way for consumer's to browse through a catalogue, define their requirements and have it ordered and shipped. Understandably, some people still aren't comfortable with buying some things online, such as clothing and big ticket items plus a lot of people enjoy the shopping experience. However books, electronics, wine, homewares, promotional items, foods, sporting goods, music & movies for example, don't really require a road test and ship easily enough.

On the flipside the advantage to a business is that the market of a business can expand geographically. As the web is global and 24/7 anyone can buy your products and services from anywhere in the world, with the potential of exposing a whole new market (providing your business can cater to it).

Many of the bigger & well established online retailers are booming, however the good news is that small business is developing ecommerce-type solutions into their websites and for their regular customers too. These solutions aren't necessarily for buying online either; they can be a quoting or catalogue system that still requires human interaction but at least the viewer can research what's being offered as much as possible. In some instances if the viewer has actually visited the brick's & mortar location of the business, they know what they want so they can simply re-order.

Over the holiday season some of Australia's most successful online retailers such as www.wishlist.com.au, www.lastminute.com and www.dstore.com.au, project that this will be their biggest Christmas ever. Now more than ever is the time for business in our region to rethink how to get our business online so that we can export local goods and services to exciting new, and external, markets!