Next, let’s look at the standards to determine the degree of the integration between the virtual and physical operation (bricks-and-clicks). The following 4 business dimensions should be evaluated:[23]

1.      Brand

·        The choice to integrate brands or keep them separate is largely a choice between trust and flexibility. Extending a company’s current brand to the Internet gives instant credibility to a web site.

 

2.       Management

·        There are two choice for the management: Integrate or separate. An integrated team can better align strategic objectives, find and exploit synergies, and share knowledge. Separate teams can focus more sharply, innovative more freely. Because each approach has its advantages, companies may choose to adopt one according to their own business model.

 

3.      Operation

·        Decisions about integrating operations should be based on the strength of a company’s existing distribution and information systems and their transferability to the Internet. Integration can provide significant cost savings, a more compelling and informative site, and a competitive advantage over pure dot-com competitors.

 

4.      Equity

·        Of all the integration decisions, this one is the most important. Integration allows the parent to capture the entire value of its Internet business. Separation can help attract and retain talented managers and provide access to outside capital.

 

 

The Internet offers many opportunities for a better understanding of customer’s behavior and for developing a closer relationship with them. Customer relationship management (CRM) and personalization systems allow for the collection and application of comprehensive information to create a more customized environment for the consumer.  While the potential for such systems is substantial, they are complex and difficult to implement, and if not professionally managed, can lead to the abuse of consumer privacy.

 

CRM is based on the concept that every interaction with the customer or partner is part of a larger relationship management process. The quality of that relationship must be maintained in order to best achieve enterprise goals. [24]

 

Right now CRM is the hottest topic of e-commerce environment. It focuses on the retention of customer by collecting all data from every interaction that every customer makes with a company from all access points whether they are phone, mail, web or field. The company can then use this data for specific business purposes, and at the same time, Marketing, Service, Support or Sales are concentrating on a customer-centric approach rather than a product-centric. 

 

A successful CRM implementation include 6 critical phases as below:[25]

1.      Researching problems and identifying objectives

2.      Establishing and communication customer-centric strategy