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Should Your Organization Be an E-Commerce Provider?
E-commerce means using online electronic data communications to perform or enable transactions, usually financial, to buy or sell, subscribe to or join something. The term e-commerce is used for transactions performed on the Internet, and within that, usually on the Web. Many of us have started using e-commerce as clients, and we will use it more and more. Eventually e-commerce will be the routine way many transactions are done. The names of large organizations involved in e-commerce have become household words. As the numbers of transactions and dollar amounts rise, news media devote more and more coverage to it. Nonprofits arrived in the e-commerce news in a big way over the last few months; Disaster relief agencies found their online donations surpassing those that came in from all other sources. Many nonprofits, educational institutions, and government agencies can be e-commerce providers -- maybe your organization. Why Your Organization? Tech News readers -- people who direct and manage nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and government agencies -- have products and services they already sell or could sell, although they do not necessarily think of them that way. Your organization's products and services may include memberships, publications, workshops, seminars, services you perform, referrals, opportunities to volunteer or to donate, gift shops, and many others. Donations include potential donors' time and what they accomplish for your organization. For potential donors who are not yet involved, e-commerce could help the process of discovery. Possible Approaches for Your Organization E-commerce is more than just putting up a Web site or using e-mail. Here are some typical questions. How can we provide ways for people to shop? You can do that, with limited design flexibility, on a commercial e-commerce site and be charged for using it, or on your own site using commercial software at low dollar cost. You can also have a site custom-built -- at substantial cost. How would people pay us? Customers can pay by credit card or electronic banking debit via the Web. They can also pay you separately, by credit card via telephone or fax, or by check via paper mail. How do we provide for delivery or fulfillment? The same as if the transaction took place some other way. (In the future, products and services will increasingly be delivered electronically.) Mechanics and Transaction Charges There are costs involved in e-commerce, including the charges levied by banks, intermediaries, and credit card companies. Many nonprofits find ways to avoid or reduce their costs. Umbrella groups and management assistance providers can help with this. What nonprofit e-commerce sites have you seen and liked? Have you looked into providing e-commerce? What have you found? Let Tech News know -- we'll publish information about these things and thank you in print for helping your colleagues learn about the best and avoid the worst. |
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