Although during the fourth quarter of last year The Notebook Company predicted that 80% of its sales would be conducted on-line within the next 2 years, it has revised this forecast, saying instead that the Internet would "facilitate 100%" of its sales and general company queries.
Christopher Riley, general manager of The Notebook Company, said: "One tends to forget that a lot of company resources get used for other parts of the business - not just sales - and one should use the Internet to free up some of these resources. For example, how much of a company`s resources are spent just getting a caller to speak to the right person, or how much time gets spend sending out the same information every day. The Internet," he said, "can be used to take care of these things in an automated manner, even though the majority of sales are likely to still be finalised via traditional methods."
Riley said that while the Internet is a vital tool for any business, those companies that think sales will be dramatically boosted just by having a web presence and on-line trading capabilities are "in for a nasty surprise".
"Frankly, in the case of The Notebook Company, we are not particularly concerned what percentage of our total sales come via on-line trading. What is important is that our on-line web-site creates additional interest in our products and services and, because of this, additional pull-through in the final number of sales." Riley said while the buyer might `window shop via the company`s web-site, the actual sale might still be conducted off-line.
"People are also still a bit sceptical about on-line buying in SA.
The research done by "Dotcoza" recently, which saw a young man living in a computer-wired house for a few months and surviving solely by attending to his needs via the Internet, highlighted that the on-line world is not yet perfect. Some of the groceries Dotcoza ordered while incarcerated, for instance, are yet to arrive."
Besides selling its wares over its own web-site on www.notebook.co.za
The Notebook Company also boasts shopping sites on www.bidorbuy.co.za
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