Firms prepare strategies as dawn breaks for e-commerce
What is slowly developing, however, is business-to-business sales over the internet or other outside networks as well as a general movement toward electronically supported commerce, computer companies said. Two companies active in the field, ComputerLand and Optimus, are also hammering out strategies for how to address e-commerce.
"Internet commerce has not developed in Poland yet," said Slawomir Chlon, vice-president of ComputerLand, a systems integration company. "The reason is a small number of home computers and even a smaller number of them that are used for professional use." Chlon said that in his opinion just 10% of home computers are used to do anything other than play games.
While the internet has not really taken over for home and personal use, what has formed is a strong base in the workplace. According to European Survey of Information Society estimates, nearly 2 million people surfed the net at work at the end of 1998. Approximately 30% of all businesses had access to the internet, according to the survey. Businesses also own roughly 3.8 million computers, which puts the total computers in Poland at 5.3 million, the survey stated.
The growing prevalence of internet use in businesses is what ComputerLand plans to focus on. ComputerLand won't open any on-line stores, nor will it look for new business by supporting those applications, said President Tomasz Sielicki. Instead, it will hone in on business-to-business sales.
"Our strategy assumes that in three to five years' time all of our customers will communicate with their partners electronically," Sielicki said.
He said that e-commerce related applications and hardware currently comprise about 30-40% of ComputerLand's revenue, having the highest growth rate of all sectors in the company.
On-line stores are, however, what Optimus wants to target through its subsidiary Optimus Pascal, which runs a portal site called Onet. "Onet is aware of many aspects of e-commerce and wants to satisfy the needs of internet users as they arise," said Grzegorz Urban, public relations officer for Optimus Pascal. "At this moment we are preparing solutions that will allow for a better use of the internet's possibilities."
Onet is working on the idea of creating a "commercial district," a location on the internet "where customers could be certain that their orders will be fulfilled on time and their personal data not abused," Urban said.
Getting in front of consumers will be costly, though. Internet stores must invest heavily in promotions and advertising to let potential shoppers know they exist, Urban said. "This is the effect of a large amount of information available on line - a single piece of information about an on-line store may go unnoticed," he said.
Because about 80% of internet users connect to the net via modems and slow telephone lines, it is crucial that consumers find what they want immediately, Urban said.
The European Survey of Information Society reported that the number of web pages devoted to commerce in Poland was about 1,500 at the end of last year, with total revenue of no more than zl. 120 million ($34.29 million).
The accuracy of those estimates, however, are up for debate. "We have just started to work on monitoring the extent of Polish e-commerce," said Piotr Dlugiewicz, president of the Polish Association of Electronic Commerce and Marketing and managing director of First Interactive Polska, an internet and multimedia company. "It is certain that the number of internet stores, for example, increased manifold over the last few years, but it is still below 1% of what there will be here in two or three years."
He added that considering the low penetration of telephone lines - roughly 23.3 lines per 100 people at the end of last year - and relatively small amounts that Polish firms are investing in information technologies, the number of internet users is relatively high. "After all, the situation of internet business does not look all that bad," he said.
Chlon said banking and finance is the area in which e-commerce can make the most immediate impact. "The development went into two directions, here," he said. "One is serving large customers, which means that the largest corporate customers have computer terminals connected with banks."
E-commerce takes many forms, Chlon argued. It can be direct electronic links to customers or payment by credit cards. According to some estimates, 13% of Poles have plastic cards, including 8% who hold ATM cards.
"We are still far behind, but the pace with which we are trying to catch up with the Western countries and America is fast enough to fill the gap in two to three years," Chlon said. "On the other hand, e-business is just a marketing slogan for something that has existed for several years. Only thanks to the internet, it has gained some momentum."
Other applications have also moved transactions in the digital sphere. Systems such as EDI-FACT enable producers and suppliers to exchange orders, invoices and other documents in the automotive and other industries, Chlon said. However, the estimated penetration of EDI systems in Poland was just 3% at the end of last year, according to European Survey of Information Society data.
Electronic transactions will become more popular, because they offer companies a simple way of reducing costs, Chlon said. "The internet allows for customization, which eliminates large stocks of goods and allows for repeated sales, for example," he said.
"Internet commerce has not developed in Poland yet," said Slawomir Chlon, vice-president of ComputerLand, a systems integration company. "The reason is a small number of home computers and even a smaller number of them that are used for professional use." Chlon said that in his opinion just 10% of home computers are used to do anything other than play games.
While the internet has not really taken over for home and personal use, what has formed is a strong base in the workplace. According to European Survey of Information Society estimates, nearly 2 million people surfed the net at work at the end of 1998. Approximately 30% of all businesses had access to the internet, according to the survey. Businesses also own roughly 3.8 million computers, which puts the total computers in Poland at 5.3 million, the survey stated.
The growing prevalence of internet use in businesses is what ComputerLand plans to focus on. ComputerLand won't open any on-line stores, nor will it look for new business by supporting those applications, said President Tomasz Sielicki. Instead, it will hone in on business-to-business sales.
"Our strategy assumes that in three to five years' time all of our customers will communicate with their partners electronically," Sielicki said.
He said that e-commerce related applications and hardware currently comprise about 30-40% of ComputerLand's revenue, having the highest growth rate of all sectors in the company.
On-line stores are, however, what Optimus wants to target through its subsidiary Optimus Pascal, which runs a portal site called Onet. "Onet is aware of many aspects of e-commerce and wants to satisfy the needs of internet users as they arise," said Grzegorz Urban, public relations officer for Optimus Pascal. "At this moment we are preparing solutions that will allow for a better use of the internet's possibilities."
Onet is working on the idea of creating a "commercial district," a location on the internet "where customers could be certain that their orders will be fulfilled on time and their personal data not abused," Urban said.
Getting in front of consumers will be costly, though. Internet stores must invest heavily in promotions and advertising to let potential shoppers know they exist, Urban said. "This is the effect of a large amount of information available on line - a single piece of information about an on-line store may go unnoticed," he said.
Because about 80% of internet users connect to the net via modems and slow telephone lines, it is crucial that consumers find what they want immediately, Urban said.
The European Survey of Information Society reported that the number of web pages devoted to commerce in Poland was about 1,500 at the end of last year, with total revenue of no more than zl. 120 million ($34.29 million).
The accuracy of those estimates, however, are up for debate. "We have just started to work on monitoring the extent of Polish e-commerce," said Piotr Dlugiewicz, president of the Polish Association of Electronic Commerce and Marketing and managing director of First Interactive Polska, an internet and multimedia company. "It is certain that the number of internet stores, for example, increased manifold over the last few years, but it is still below 1% of what there will be here in two or three years."
He added that considering the low penetration of telephone lines - roughly 23.3 lines per 100 people at the end of last year - and relatively small amounts that Polish firms are investing in information technologies, the number of internet users is relatively high. "After all, the situation of internet business does not look all that bad," he said.
Chlon said banking and finance is the area in which e-commerce can make the most immediate impact. "The development went into two directions, here," he said. "One is serving large customers, which means that the largest corporate customers have computer terminals connected with banks."
E-commerce takes many forms, Chlon argued. It can be direct electronic links to customers or payment by credit cards. According to some estimates, 13% of Poles have plastic cards, including 8% who hold ATM cards.
"We are still far behind, but the pace with which we are trying to catch up with the Western countries and America is fast enough to fill the gap in two to three years," Chlon said. "On the other hand, e-business is just a marketing slogan for something that has existed for several years. Only thanks to the internet, it has gained some momentum."
Other applications have also moved transactions in the digital sphere. Systems such as EDI-FACT enable producers and suppliers to exchange orders, invoices and other documents in the automotive and other industries, Chlon said. However, the estimated penetration of EDI systems in Poland was just 3% at the end of last year, according to European Survey of Information Society data.
Electronic transactions will become more popular, because they offer companies a simple way of reducing costs, Chlon said. "The internet allows for customization, which eliminates large stocks of goods and allows for repeated sales, for example," he said.
