It is reasonable to say even now – in the middle of a terrible and bitter financial tidal wave whose end is difficult to see – that the expression "there is no bad without good" is true. In times of crisis, people tend to look for "bargains" – where is it still possible to gain something from the situation? Which financial sectors are likely to prosper? In which areas can we still expect to see a growth? How can a business cope with the oncoming tidal wave?
Even in these troubled times, the Internet is one of the areas that continues to grow more than ever in its usage. Elik Cohen, founder and CEO of Daronet, Ltd., a leading website development company, speaks about today's Internet growth: "Our estimation of this phenomenon and the developments we are seeing are based upon the data we receive from websites in the middle of the storm – the sites Daronet built for its American customers. A good example of this is the Jamesallen.com site. This site, built by Daronet, is one of the two leading diamond sales sites in the world. These websites mainly serve the American market (over 90% of the sales) and we would expect the performance of such sites to be influenced dramatically by the fall in the American markets. In reality, this site has broken all sales records and activity during the last few months (sales in the range of tens of millions of dollars). This is especially interesting in light of the market statistics that show a reduction in the demand for diamonds in the United States of approximately 30% since the beginning of the year."
"The site managers explain this phenomenon as the result of two major factors: one, sensitivity to price – in light of today's financial pressures, sensitivity to price has increased and prices on Internet sites are by nature cheaper than their non online counterparts. The second factor is savings on the purchase costs – there is no need to start the car, pay for gas, travel to more than one store and perform expensive and time consuming price comparisons. Consumers prefer to perform market studies using search engines from their homes or in Internet cafes and to have the product delivered straight to their houses." stresses Cohen.
According to Tal Frietig, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Daronet, one can expect growth in the online advertising segment of the general advertising market. According to him, "Usage of the Internet advertising channels will become more and more attractive to companies and advertisers. It is certainly reasonable to assume that the marketing expenses of companies will indeed decrease and will be weighed more carefully, but we estimate that a big share of these expenses will be diverted to the Internet area, an area allowing for more exact measurement and supervision of costs versus results, flexibility and quicker responsiveness to customer demands. This way the organization can measure and control the advertising revenue versus the expenses – a necessary condition in an unstable market."
"An additional phenomenon is the revolution in the perception of companies of the importance of Internet sites to businesses." Adds Frietig, "On one hand, companies have come to the understanding that they can significantly lower their manpower costs by integrating the company's website with the internal systems of the organization. On the other hand, the customer service is quicker, free of human error and in many instances, more comprehensive. The result is efficiency, significantly lowered costs and increased competitive advantage."
"In the past," says Frietig, "implementation of such an interface was an expensive and complex project. Today there exist a number of integrated solutions from leading organizational software makers in the market. The built-in solution approach saves on many costs and resources, causing the return on investment to improve dramatically."
Eran Shatzman from Modooloo, a company specializing in building Internet sites for small businesses, notes that a website is the ultimate window display for any business, particularly a small one. According to him, an Internet site is the only place, other than the business itself, where the business owner can display his products and services to his existing as well as potential customers.
Says Shatzman: "The website is a tool enabling the remote customer to find the business that supplies the goods/services relevant to his needs without having to make a phone call or running around like in the past. The website is available 24 hours, so even at night or on the weekends, when the business is closed, the site continues to represent him faithfully and receive business inquiries."
Shatzman says that most small businesses are not able to permit themselves to prepare and maintain printed advertising material (catalogues and brochures). Using a high quality designed Internet site, a small business is able to present its products without feeling inferior to larger businesses.
"An Internet site," continues Shatzman, "is a relatively cheap tool to operate, saves on the service time of expensive workers, produces relevant information and materials, allows inquiries and orders and represents the business after hours. The investment in a good Internet site pays for itself quickly and allows the business owner to take care of more customers. In times of crisis," concludes Shatzman, "an Internet site can be the tool that decides whether a small business will survive or fail."
Tuvi Pollack, owner and CEO of Tochen HaInyanim, a company that specializes in managing and leading Internet projects rich in content as well as the writing, editing and maintenance of the content, notes that "whenever there is a noticeable drop in the profitability of financial investments or whenever the usage of traditional marketing and sales methods becomes more expensive, the attraction of the Internet rises. The web allows every person to reach an unlimited number of potential customers; a tremendous savings in fixed costs such as offices, cars, gas, expensive marketing tools, sales people, advertising costs and more."
According to Pollack, "Today your Internet site is your electronic business card, creates your image, is a marketing and advertising channel, a virtual store, your meeting place with suppliers, customers and workers, and in fact – the center of life, both business and personal. An Internet site is your business and Google is your sales person; how much more so during unstable financial times."
