The New Commerce

摘要

The 2012 numbers are in - and eCommerce is a big winner for companies large and small. Online sales portals are allowing companies to post some big numbers with minimal internal product handling, streamlined order fulfillment processes, and reduced labor costs. While this is sending the income levels through the roof for some, it's cutting into profit margins for others: 1. This past year in August, W.W. Grainger launched a free mobile app allowing customers to instantly order over 900,000 products from anywhere and at any time - as long as they have a smartphone. Consequently, the company posted $2.7 billion in eCommerce sales in 2012, representing 30 percent of total company sales, and an increase of 23 percent versus the prior year. Coincidence? Maybe not.