Web Commerce: Building a Digital Business

In Web Commerce, Kate Maddox clearly identifies the many different Web commerce solutions available today and helps those of you in management positions decide which system best fits the needs of your company. This indispensable guide also helps you develop surefire strategies for making your site a success-whether your company is a Fortune 500 or a start-up travel agency.

Comprehensive discussions are included on all major categories of software and systems for transacting Web commerce, such as outsourcing commerce (on malls or hosting services), electronic-catalog and merchant-server software, high-end commerce solutions, payment options, and security solutions. There are in-depth explanations provided for the various features, pricing, and setup requirements, as well as the pros and cons of each type of system. The important and pressing topic of Web commerce security is also explored in detail.

Beyond selecting the right kinds of hardware, software, payment options, and security solutions for your Web commerce system, the book also considers issues that go beyond system setup. Depending upon what kind of industry you're in, or what kind of customers you have, unique strategies are necessary to make the most of your Web commerce systems. Maddox addresses industry-specific questions like: If you're a car manufacturer, what are some of the problems you'll face trying to sell expensive items over the Web? If you're a business-to-business seller, how do you avoid disrupting the sales channel? She then presents strategies for dealing with these unique problems effectively.

The book goes on to describe how to best reach your target audience and how to personalize and promote your Web site effectively. Finally, Maddox takes a look at the future of Web commerce.

A comprehensive look at the Web commerce solutions available today and how to choose the right one for your company

Today, managers in every type of business are looking to branch out onto the Web to promote and ultimately sell their products to a much wider audience. In Web Commerce, Kate Maddox provides managers with all the information they need to know-from software and hardware options to strategizing effectively for a particular business to security issues to the future of Web commerce. Web Commerce is the managers' road map to business in the next century.

"Kate Maddox gives us a detailed account of how the best companies are selling their products and services on the Internet. Web Commerce is a must read for managers looking to take their companies into the next century." -Jim McCann President, 1-800-FLOWERS Author, Stop and Sell the Roses

"Anyone looking to conduct business on the Internet needs to read Web Commerce. If you're looking to do business on the Net now, this book has it all!" -Chuck Martin President, Net Future Institute Author, The Digital Estate

Kate Maddox is Editor of Interactive Media and Marketing for Advertising Age magazine, a Crain Communications publication. She has served as a senior editor of CMP Media's Information Week and Interactive Age magazines and has published numerous articles in publications, including Business Marketing, NetGuide, and Communications Week. Ms. Maddox has spent the past four years investigating and reporting on the topic of electronic commerce.

Dana Blankenhorn is currently a freelance writer and editor of "A Clue . . . to Internet Commerce," a free e-mail newsletter at www.a-clue.com. In 1994, he also helped launch CMP Media's "Interactive Age Daily," the first daily on-line report about the Internet.