Some are making tons of money. Others are loosing their shirt on this new cyber medium. What is the difference? What separates those doing well from the also-rans and the "should never have even thought about running" group?

Georgia Institute of Technology recently concluded a survey to find out what real live customers are looking for on the Web. This should grab the attention of any free market entrepreneur serious about doing business in the 21^st Century. What they discovered might surprise you.

What online shoppers want most:

1. Variety. You have got to provide more choices at more convenience with great detail and for more value than your customers would get at the local shopping center. This doesn’t mean that price alone will be the deciding factor. You need to provide value, content and an online experience that buyers wouldn’t receive elsewhere. The Web provides abundant ways to provide more information (print, audio, video, etc.). If you’re not providing this, you are loosing out on buyers as they click away from you and embrace your local competitors. Don’t just offer the same old junk that everyone else is offering. Be creative. Be unique. If you’re not, your buyers are clicking away.
2. Security. This is one of the big areas, but here is the surprise. Most customers feel security is based more on the reputation of the firm than on the technology deployed. If you’re inclined more towards technology, read that last sentence again. People want to feel that they are secure when buying online. They have to feel that confidence oozing out of every pixel on the screen before they’ll give you their credit card number. Yeah, I know you can tell me it is safer than giving your credit card to the waitperson, blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard that one way too many times. Snap out of it. Your buyer (the one who helps put food on the table for you and your kids!) wants human reassurance that they are safe. Lean towards the human side, not the techie side to insure higher sales.
3. Make ordering incredibly easy. Here’s the trick: You have to make it secure, but it has to be easy to order and do business with you. Amazon.com (www.amazon.com), almost everyone’s favorite example of how to do it right, provides the ability to have one-click ordering. Once you’ve registered, given them your credit card and made a purchase, you can simply click once and place your future orders. If your buyer doesn’t have a good experience, they might try again, but after a while they’ll add many new words to their language describing the ancestry of your company and leave---never to return. They’ll also tell others what a terrible place it was to visit. Make the transition smooth for them. Test it with your grandmother. If she gets frustrated, you’d better change it.
4. "Better than the average bear". As Yogo Bear used to say in the cartoons, you have to be better than your competitors. You have to offer something that others don’t. Online bookstores (like Barnes and Noble Booksellers, www.barnesandnoble.com) provide the ability to chat with the author. Now there’s something you can’t do at every brick and mortar bookstore. You can also read what many other readers have said about the book. This is part of the community. Do you have a place where your buyers can congregate and talk about what they like AND DON’T LIKE (!) about your product and service? Hey, don’t get touchy about the negative stuff. This is valuable information you want to know. If a lot of customers are upset and can freely express it on your company Website, you have a better chance of stopping problems before they grow. Respond to them and help them. Hey, we’re only talking about your children’s food on your kitchen table!
5. Fast Response. If you respond at the speed of a bored Postal employee you’ll be kissing that profit goodbye. You have to be on there fast. Check your Website regularly, at least three times daily. Fill orders fast. Act like a UPS driver hustling to make quota, not a Postal employee who couldn’t care less!
6. Low prices. Notice this one is last? That’s because even though price is always a consideration in every purchase, it is not the most important. We expect to have a lower price on the Web. That is part of the Cyber-contract we sign when we decide to get online. However, the price has to be supported with the above elements in order to be successful. Without these features, you might as well kiss your E-Commerce goodbye. To paraphrase the title of Judge Ziglar’s book from a few years ago, "Terrible Web Sellers Have Skinny Kids."

The world as we know it is changing. A popular acronym for the Year 2000 problem is TEOTWAWKI, the end of the world as we know it. Although we’ll still see traditional forms of commerce around for a long time, E-Commerce is not a passing fade. Billions are being made there and billions more will be made. Will you be one of those making the money or 10 years from now looking at a future Bill Gates saying, "If only I had acted when I read that article in the Business Chronicle"? Think about it.

Terry Brock is an internationally recognized professional speaker, consultant and author in the fields of business productivity, technology and marketing. His is a syndicated columnist for Business Journals across America and can be reached at 407-363-0505 or by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com.