subject: Computers make the world go round – and business go around the world [print this page] Turning a small, local business into a truly worldwide one can be a major undertaking or it can be as easy as linking it up to the worldwide web. The internet has spawned thousands of entrepreneurs who have spotted a market niche, then set out to fill it.
Depending on the products involved, such a business doesn't even necessarily need a physical shop, and can be run from home. For such entrepreneurs, the key to success lay in finding the right products, a reliable and trustworthy supplier, and then having the dedication to keep customers happy by backing up the products with a reliable, efficient and courteous service.
Anyone setting up a business which trades online has to be prepared for the fact that their sales territory has no boundaries. Literally, the world is their oyster, and enquiries may be received from all parts of the globe.
Equally, word of mouth has been replaced by the word of the keyboard, as buyers tell their friends about their positive online shopping experiences by email, instant message, or online postings, as well as by telephone and face to face.
And open access to such sources of information offers the potential that a positive comment about any business might be read on the other side of the world, and could spark an interest which the seller never even knew existed. Selling goods online to a worldwide audience, though, demands that the highest standards of service are offered to every customer. A business which is confident in its ability to serve its own domestic market cannot necessarily expect to be able to repeat the same template for success on a global scale.
Instead, it should make its online presence its shop window'. Each computer through which its website is viewed gains a business greater exposure, but engaging potential customers through their computers is a different discipline from doing the same in person.
Ultimately, customers will show their intent by buying a company's products. But being able to reach out to a massive potential new audience through their desktop computers, wherever they may be watching, is a possibility which makes even the smallest business full of potential. How it goes about realising that potential is the key to its future.
Computers and laptops are now one of the most important communication channels with potential customers for any business. So a business needs to have the best tools in order to help it get its messages across.
Computers make the world go round and business go around the world
