Profitable ecommerce sites?

Thank you Chris for your stats. They sound about right. What will
happen to ecommerce then if it is not a profitable venue?


Chris Gunn <cgunn DeleteThis @bizynet.com> wrote in message
news:<1dja90ll7sb2ltg2n2bmtcmp6f3m0at412 DeleteThis @4ax.com>...
 > On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 01:29:35 -0500, sylvain.henry DeleteThis @gmail.com (sylvain) wrote:
 >
  > >Internet usage is increasing, but is ecommerce booming as well? How
  > >many recent success stories are there in ecommerce?
 >
 > Howdy Sylvain,
 >
 > Rough percentages:
 >
 > 90% of the web sites attempting to sell products or services don't cover
 > their monthly hosting. Percentage is higher for those trying to use free
 > hosting.
 >
 > 5% manage to pay for basic overhead.
 >
 > 3% show a slight profit but not enough to buy groceries.
 >
 > 2% have all of the proper things in place and there's some money left over
 > after paying decent salaries.
 >
 > Success Stories:
 >
 > Amazon.com spent over two years before they were covering their overhead and
 > they still haven't made a profit for their initial investors. The successes
 > go to the web sites who've put in two or three years hard work and started
 > with lots of personal business experience.
 >
<font color=purple> > Chris <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.bizynet.com</font" target="_blank">http://www.bizynet.com</font</a>>
 > BIZynet Coordinator cgunn DeleteThis @bizynet.com
 > Moderator of biz.general, biz.marketplace.discussion, biz.healthcare,
 > biz.marketplace.web-design, biz.marketplace.international & others<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Profitable ecommerce sites? 

Interesting stats. Do you have a ref for the study. (Not a challenge.
I'd just like to read it.)

I read that 59% of publicly-traded e-commerce companies made a profit
in Q4 2003. Obviously, those are the big boys, so it's not really a
basis for someone to decide whether or not to open an e-commerce
operation.

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.businessweek.com/@@VQMk8IYQ1isZnBUA/magazine/content/04_12/b3875021.htm" target="_blank">http://www.businessweek.com/@@VQMk8IYQ1isZnBUA/magazine/content/04_12/...75021.h</a>

Les Jones
Tuesday E-commerce Report
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.lesjones.com/" target="_blank">http://www.lesjones.com/</a>

Chris Gunn <cgunn RemoveThis @bizynet.com> wrote in message
news:<1dja90ll7sb2ltg2n2bmtcmp6f3m0at412 RemoveThis @4ax.com>...
 > On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 01:29:35 -0500, sylvain.henry RemoveThis @gmail.com (sylvain) wrote:
 >
  > >Internet usage is increasing, but is ecommerce booming as well? How
  > >many recent success stories are there in ecommerce?
 >
 > Howdy Sylvain,
 >
 > Rough percentages:
 >
 > 90% of the web sites attempting to sell products or services don't cover
 > their monthly hosting. Percentage is higher for those trying to use free
 > hosting.
 >
 > 5% manage to pay for basic overhead.
 >
 > 3% show a slight profit but not enough to buy groceries.
 >
 > 2% have all of the proper things in place and there's some money left over
 > after paying decent salaries.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Profitable ecommerce sites? 

If those Stats are correct, then we are talking about a 95% failure
rate at a bare minimum. if only 2% are actually making enough to
cover hosting, and salaries...

So I'd like to take this thread somewhere productive, how do we change
the failure rate of e commerce sites? How can you make e-commerce
profitable for the small or family business?

Or is this the wrong forum for that??? I have some proposals but
would like to know if this is cool here or if we need another topic/
does this belong in another group?

Earl

sylvain.henry RemoveThis @gmail.com (sylvain) wrote in message
news:<9gog905gtu3eganibft2jfrouq9mcr2r9k RemoveThis @4ax.com>...
 > Thank you Chris for your stats. They sound about right. What will
 > happen to ecommerce then if it is not a profitable venue?
 >
 >
 > Chris Gunn <cgunn RemoveThis @bizynet.com> wrote in message
 > news:<1dja90ll7sb2ltg2n2bmtcmp6f3m0at412 RemoveThis @4ax.com>...
  > > On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 01:29:35 -0500, sylvain.henry RemoveThis @gmail.com (sylvain) wrote:
  > >
   > > >Internet usage is increasing, but is ecommerce booming as well? How
   > > >many recent success stories are there in ecommerce?
  > >
  > > Howdy Sylvain,
  > >
  > > Rough percentages:
  > >
  > > 90% of the web sites attempting to sell products or services don't cover
  > > their monthly hosting. Percentage is higher for those trying to use free
  > > hosting.
  > >
  > > 5% manage to pay for basic overhead.
  > >
  > > 3% show a slight profit but not enough to buy groceries.
  > >
  > > 2% have all of the proper things in place and there's some money left over
  > > after paying decent salaries.
  > >
  > > Success Stories:
  > >
  > > Amazon.com spent over two years before they were covering their overhead and
  > > they still haven't made a profit for their initial investors. The successes
  > > go to the web sites who've put in two or three years hard work and started
  > > with lots of personal business experience.
  > >
<font color=green>  > > Chris <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.bizynet.com</font" target="_blank">http://www.bizynet.com</font</a>>
  > > BIZynet Coordinator cgunn RemoveThis @bizynet.com
  > > Moderator of biz.general, biz.marketplace.discussion, biz.healthcare,
  > > biz.marketplace.web-design, biz.marketplace.international & others<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Profitable ecommerce sites? 

On Mon, 10 May 2004 14:54:31 -0500, funwithtravel2003 RemoveThis @yahoo.com (Earl)
wrote:

 >If those Stats are correct, then we are talking about a 95% failure
 >rate at a bare minimum. if only 2% are actually making enough to
 >cover hosting, and salaries...

Howdy Earl,

You are in the right place.

First you need to understand the composition of this 95%.

1. The majority have no business experience.

2. The majority are without funding for hosting or advertising.

3. A massive number of them are trying to sell the same products out of the
same drop ship catalogs or eBooks as thousands of other sites.

4. A fair sized number were sabotaged by poorly skilled web designers.

5. Tossed in, they try to use PayPal and similar because they do not
qualify for a Merchant Account.

 >So I'd like to take this thread somewhere productive, how do we change
 >the failure rate of e commerce sites? How can you make e-commerce
 >profitable for the small or family business?

After you've removed those who should not be trying to start or run a
business in first place, then you can start working on what Internet
marketing formulas work well.

Thanks, Chris <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.bizynet.com" target="_blank">http://www.bizynet.com</a>
BIZynet Coordinator cgunn RemoveThis @bizynet.com
Moderator of biz.general, biz.marketplace.discussion, biz.healthcare,
biz.marketplace.web-design, biz.marketplace.international & others<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Profitable ecommerce sites? 

This is the second time that I have seen you mention paypal as
basically non viable... for handling e-commerce, and yet it is
indorsed by E-Bay. I'll grant you, that having your own merchant
account is probably better, but what is wrong with pay pal for
starting out?

Your begining merchant and e-commerce sites don't have the large
starting capital that a brick and mortar store would have that is part
of the plan... Not requiring large outputs of cash and being able to
pay as you go...

So that is I guess where we start, what's wrong with using pay pal and
why?

Earl

Chris Gunn <cgunn.RemoveThis@bizynet.com> wrote in message
news:<vinv90lbhulflb8al2vd12h0jsfui3mqte.RemoveThis@4ax.com>...
 > On Mon, 10 May 2004 14:54:31 -0500, funwithtravel2003.RemoveThis@yahoo.com (Earl)
 > wrote:
 >
  > >If those Stats are correct, then we are talking about a 95% failure
  > >rate at a bare minimum. if only 2% are actually making enough to
  > >cover hosting, and salaries...
 >
 > Howdy Earl,
 >
 > You are in the right place.
 >
 > First you need to understand the composition of this 95%.
 >
 > 1. The majority have no business experience.
 >
 > 2. The majority are without funding for hosting or advertising.
 >
 > 3. A massive number of them are trying to sell the same products out of the
 > same drop ship catalogs or eBooks as thousands of other sites.
 >
 > 4. A fair sized number were sabotaged by poorly skilled web designers.
 >
 > 5. Tossed in, they try to use PayPal and similar because they do not
 > qualify for a Merchant Account.
 >
  > >So I'd like to take this thread somewhere productive, how do we change
  > >the failure rate of e commerce sites? How can you make e-commerce
  > >profitable for the small or family business?
 >
 > After you've removed those who should not be trying to start or run a
 > business in first place, then you can start working on what Internet
 > marketing formulas work well.
 >
<font color=purple> > Thanks, Chris <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.bizynet.com</font" target="_blank">http://www.bizynet.com</font</a>>
 > BIZynet Coordinator cgunn.RemoveThis@bizynet.com
 > Moderator of biz.general, biz.marketplace.discussion, biz.healthcare,
 > biz.marketplace.web-design, biz.marketplace.international & others<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Profitable ecommerce sites? 

Chris Gunn <cgunn RemoveThis @bizynet.com> wrote in message
news:<1dja90ll7sb2ltg2n2bmtcmp6f3m0at412 RemoveThis @4ax.com>...
 > On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 01:29:35 -0500, sylvain.henry RemoveThis @gmail.com (sylvain) wrote:
 >
  > >Internet usage is increasing, but is ecommerce booming as well? How
  > >many recent success stories are there in ecommerce?
 >
 > Howdy Sylvain,
 >
 > Rough percentages:
 >
 > 90% of the web sites attempting to sell products or services don't cover
 > their monthly hosting. Percentage is higher for those trying to use free
 > hosting.
 >
 > 5% manage to pay for basic overhead.
 >
 > 3% show a slight profit but not enough to buy groceries.
 >
 > 2% have all of the proper things in place and there's some money left over
 > after paying decent salaries.
 >
 > Success Stories:
 >
 > Amazon.com spent over two years before they were covering their overhead and
 > they still haven't made a profit for their initial investors. The successes
 > go to the web sites who've put in two or three years hard work and started
 > with lots of personal business experience.
 >
<font color=purple> > Chris <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.bizynet.com</font" target="_blank">http://www.bizynet.com</font</a>>
 > BIZynet Coordinator cgunn RemoveThis @bizynet.com
 > Moderator of biz.general, biz.marketplace.discussion, biz.healthcare,
 > biz.marketplace.web-design, biz.marketplace.international & others

Short note on the figures.. 2% of the enormous amount of
internetbusinesses still makes a large number.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Profitable ecommerce sites? 

I follow that, and appreciate the positive comments, 2% of 100 is
nothing, but I'm sure there are more like a million new attempts or
more every month. And 2% of 1 million is a lot more successes. That
gives people hope, and the will to keep trying. But we need to learn
from our mistakes... Which is what I'm trying to do...

Thanks again

Earl

varchar DeleteThis @msn.com (tst) wrote in message
news:<lrh8a0hahv9d7j3883nacusta67qglp28c DeleteThis @4ax.com>...
 > Chris Gunn <cgunn DeleteThis @bizynet.com> wrote in message
 > news:<1dja90ll7sb2ltg2n2bmtcmp6f3m0at412 DeleteThis @4ax.com>...
  > > On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 01:29:35 -0500, sylvain.henry DeleteThis @gmail.com (sylvain) wrote:
  > >
   > > >Internet usage is increasing, but is ecommerce booming as well? How
   > > >many recent success stories are there in ecommerce?
  > >
  > > Howdy Sylvain,
  > >
  > > Rough percentages:
  > >
  > > 90% of the web sites attempting to sell products or services don't cover
  > > their monthly hosting. Percentage is higher for those trying to use free
  > > hosting.
  > >
  > > 5% manage to pay for basic overhead.
  > >
  > > 3% show a slight profit but not enough to buy groceries.
  > >
  > > 2% have all of the proper things in place and there's some money left over
  > > after paying decent salaries.
  > >
  > > Success Stories:
  > >
  > > Amazon.com spent over two years before they were covering their overhead and
  > > they still haven't made a profit for their initial investors. The successes
  > > go to the web sites who've put in two or three years hard work and started
  > > with lots of personal business experience.
  > >
<font color=green>  > > Chris <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.bizynet.com</font" target="_blank">http://www.bizynet.com</font</a>>
  > > BIZynet Coordinator cgunn DeleteThis @bizynet.com
  > > Moderator of biz.general, biz.marketplace.discussion, biz.healthcare,
  > > biz.marketplace.web-design, biz.marketplace.international & others
 >
 > Short note on the figures.. 2% of the enormous amount of
 > internetbusinesses still makes a large number.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Profitable ecommerce sites? 

funwithtravel2003.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com (Earl) wrote in message
news:<gfnv90lpj092utlj37vbq3b54rff3dik2i.TakeThisOut@4ax.com>...
 > If those Stats are correct, then we are talking about a 95% failure
 > rate at a bare minimum. if only 2% are actually making enough to
 > cover hosting, and salaries...
 >
 > So I'd like to take this thread somewhere productive, how do we change
 > the failure rate of e commerce sites? How can you make e-commerce
 > profitable for the small or family business?

We should not forget that business online is relatively very new
aspect in our life. If I am not wrong, online shopping phenomenon
starts just at the end of 1997. So less than 7 years. This small
period is not enough to educate common people about pre-requisites of
online business. Any scammer can lure them to buy software or books,
which make them millionaires by selling over e-bay or joining
companies like Quickstars.

Perhaps in next ten years failure stories will out pace the myths of
get-rich-quick. And a new field of consultant may emerge with the help
of government which gives people sound advise at reasonable price.
Bankers will have more than 16 years of study, and they will realize
they can't afford to stay out side. Thus, getting bank loan will be
comparatively little bit easier. Though, this will force new ventures
for online business to do more research to win banker's approval.

Even then, some people will continue to take the adventure dip,
causing more failure stories to come into the light ultimately more
caution will add up into the system. In other words, we will keep
learning from our failures.

At the same time, as technology is evolving, Google may excel in its
search technology. Some new companies will come in the race. This will
help to weed out low-quality amateur businesses from free search
result. It will defiantly does not mean that ground will be paved for
big and giants. On the other hand, it will help narrowing down the
difference between giant and small businesses on the cyber ground.

So it is matter of time.

Ahsan
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://store.shop72.com" target="_blank">http://store.shop72.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Profitable ecommerce sites?