E-Commerce Consultants - Industry Organization, E-commerce Consulting Takes Off

Transforming a firm into a competitive e-business calls for meticulously planned and informed strategies. Understanding the e-marketplace and where one's firm can find its niche; implementing the right internal and external networks and acquiring the correct software and equipment; and developing an e-commerce strategy requires a holistic analysis of a business and its goals and practices. Increasingly, by the late 1990s and early 2000s, firms were turning to e-commerce consultants to help them make the transformation. In doing so, they sought services at the lowest possible cost which promised the greatest overall benefits.

Companies, ranging from old economy stalwarts to young hopefuls, often lack either the internal knowledge or internal resources necessary to devise and implement a successful e-business strategy. As the e-commerce shakeout in the early 2000s proved, a comprehensive and effective e-commerce strategy can make or break a company's online prospects. Moreover, the lightning pace of technological development typically was too fast for companies, concerned with their core business operations, to keep up with. Finally, with e-commerce still a largely haphazard industry in the early 2000s, companies often face a great deal of confusion over just where to take their online hopes.

Customers' perceptions of companies are increasingly influenced by their experiences on the Web. In other words, a consumer's opinion of a firm may sour if he or she encounters excessive delays in downloading pages or convoluted Web-purchasing procedures. Because of this, firms turn to consultancies for expertise in meeting consumers' online expectations. When a firm transitions to the Web, its internal business practices may be too specialized to understand the subtle nuances required to make a Web site customer-friendly and appropriate to their line of work. E-commerce consultancies not only try to eliminate those features of their clients' Web sites that detract from the customers' online experience, but try to integrate the feel of the Web site with that of the firms' call centers and storefronts. In short, consultants try to help companies shape how they relate to the world online, and integrate the image they project on the Internet with that of their bricks-and-mortar operations.

As a result, the market for e-commerce consulting was booming, despite some setbacks in the early 2000s. Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm International Data Corp. forecast total revenues for Internet-related consulting services to skyrocket through the middle of the 2000s, from $16.1 billion in 1999 to $99.1 billion in 2004.