Say It With Your Website...

European companies are still failing to take full advantage of the commercial opportunities offered by the internet - by misunderstanding the true purpose of their corporate websites.

(Wednesday, June 06, 2007) - According to Nikesh Arora, Google's Vice President of European Operations, " Many businesses make the mistake of thinking their website should be a corporate brochure, rather than a place to sell their products."

There is still a tendency for companies to see the website as a place to illustrate the organisation's history, from its humble beginnings through to its rise to eminence. This kind of website generally has large, flattering pictures of senior members of staff as one of its key features.

Internet professionals such as Arora see this approach as a willful waste of a huge commercial opportunity that can cost a company far more than it bargained for. He quotes the example of a European washing-machine manufacturer that last year made the decision not to sell its products online for fear of offending its traditional sales channel. The company found itself standing by and watching as a more entrepreneurially-minded member of its own sales team left and set up an online sales operation of his own - then stole much of the companies business.

Companies like Google believe that a web-based approach to the selling of goods is even more important to smaller companies than it is to large manufacturers. According to Arora, the internet enables a small player to compete on equal terms with a huge operation. Even though the smaller company does not have a glass-and-steel office tower for its headquarters, or a chain of retail outlets, it can use a well designed website coupled with its lower overheads to steal a march on larger, less nimble rivals.

For further information please contact Simon Poyser 0845 612 7147 or email solutions@iqmediagroup.co.uk.

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