The Rural Voice, 1998-12, Page 39Vincent Amanor-Boadu
"The world is now your market" , he
.told farmers
from others available. Excelling in
quality and service are key.
Internet marketers must use all the
information afforded them by their
customers to tickle the clients'
interest. Get to know the client and
what they want. Meet the specific
need, he said. "Provide what is good
enough for your customers. Don't
give thema Cadillac when a Jetta
will do."
How to take full advantage of
that huge customer base was
further detailed by Jim
Ingratta, general manager of e-
business Solutions at IBM Canada.
The explosion of internet users
has changed traditional businesses,
he said, as the internet goes from a
virtual playground to a virtual
workplace.
Ingratta said currently much of the
internet transactions are business -to -
business though analysts expects on-
line business to generate $1 trillion
by 2004. In 1998, one per cent of all
car sales were completed on the
internet. That is expected to jump to
20 per cent in less than five years. All
e-commerce is forecasted to jump
from 14 per cent to 50 per cent by the
end of 1999. Even the percentage of
companies with web sites grew from
53 to 73 between the third quarterof
1997 and the second quarter of 1998.
Because of the huge market
potential, Ingratta said the "customer
is king" as another provider is only a
click away.
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