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Different forms of online presence in e-business

Different types of online presence have different objectives and are suitable for different markets. According to their business model, organizations would choose different types of online presence and integrate their functions on the website. The following are the five main types of online presence.

1.Transactional e-commerce site

The main purpose of this type of site is enabling customers to purchase products online.The site is also responsible for providing for their customers with sufficient information of products to help them make purchase offline.

Example: an online retailer such as Amazon (www.amazon.com)

2.Services-orientated relationship-building website

The main objective of the website is providing product information to encourage customer purchase and building customer relationship. It is not necessary to provide products for online purchase and it adds value to both existing customers and potential customers by detailed product information.

Example: B2B management consultants such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwcglobal.com)

3.Brand-building site

It is not necessary for this type of site to provide products for online purchase and the main focus is to provide online experience for customers to support their brand. In general, the typical products are fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG)

Example: Tango (www.tango.me）

4.Portal or media site

The main function of portal is to provide information both on the site and through links to other sites about a range of topics. Portals have different ways to earn revenue including advertising, commission-based sales, sale of customer data.

Example: Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com)

5.Social network or community site

The main focus of these sites is enabling community interactions between different consumers (C2C model) including posting and replying to comments, sending messages,rating and tagging content in different categories. Social media can use the power of opinion leaders to attract audience and obtain people's recognition.

Example: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

Benefits of online presence for business

In the digital age, network technology has penetrated the business world to a large extent. Almost all large companies in the market have well-designed websites, active social media, and even apps to build and improve customer relationships. With more than 4 billion users on the Internet, the benefits of online sales far outweigh the costs of completing their work.

1.Provide information to enable purchase

One of the most immediate benefits of online presence is the ability to provide as many customers with as much information and experience as possible to help customers understand the product and motivate the customer's desire to buy, thereby facilitating the transaction to generate revenue.

2.Customer contact

Web users would leave traces of data every move, so companies can accurately focus on target audience by customer data analysis and management through online presence, thereby making marketing activities more efficient.

3.Feedback fix

Online presence provides convenience for after-sales service. In addition to the regular return service, customers can post their comments on products and services through shopping websites and social networking sites. This helps build good customer relationships and promote the long-term development of the company.