subject: Independent Income And The Rise Of The Internet [print this page] Internet business was at first related only to the phenomenon itself, with connectivity (often hierarchical in nature) forming the central paradigm.
The web was used for communication and advertising; web sites were complex, software expensive and search engine optimization did not really exist, at least at first. Key words were simple to understand and used using the meta tags of HTML.
The first Internet businesses were devoted to the Internet itself, the first sales were software and information and the first fortunes were made from electronic product sales.
Amazon showed the advantages and disadvantages of doing business online. A vast number of products (at that time mostly all books) available in one place and using a well designed interface with easy one click shopping was and is attractive to shoppers, most importantly it showed that physical products could be sold online.
The problems of online commerce were all related to the organization of product information and to shipping; most existing businesses found it a problem to ship to shoppers in their own state, shipping to every part of the USA, and even to the world beyond, was a complicated business which convinced many that e-commerce, as Internet selling became known, was not for them.
And so smaller countries lead the way. Banking on the web was soon followed by grocery shopping and even some of the luxury brands, at first convinced that no-one would buy without the benefit of deep pile carpets and chandeliers, experimented with e-commerce stores.
But two major problems remained for anyone looking to open an e-commerce shop to sell physical products. The first was the warehousing and shipping for an operation large enough to cover the USA, the second was the start-up capital required to purchase the stock.
But then the practice of drop shipping solved the problem. Nowadays anyone can set up a web store and buy from the supplier only when they make a sale.
The drop shipper does charge more as a result, but for new companies the reduction in risk is easily worth a slight reduction in profit. There is no need for vast inventory and best of all, no need for packing and shipping. The drop shippers will take care of that too, and as they ship in bulk, even the shipping rates are better.
Independent income through an Internet store is not pie in the sky, the use of a drop ship supplier can make sales of almost any product a reality. With no warehouse or shipping to take care of, the 'store' is genuinely virtual.
You can take it with you on your laptop wherever you go, or choose a different style of ownership and, once your web store is established, manage it via a couple of assistants and an intelligent cellphone.
There's no need to put up with a high cost of living, once your income is location independent you can live where you like, a Palazzo in Rome, a Chalet in Switzerland, or an apartment by the wine dark seas of Greece; you can travel the world with your virtual store knowing you drop shipper handles the supply end, leaving you to give great customer care as you sit sipping by the pool.
