The average cost of building a e-commerce site on the Internet is reported an average $6
million by researchers at International Data Group. Annual maintenance and promotion
costs can add another $13 million annually. "This is not an inexpensive undertaking.
Building a successful online commerce site requires commitment, time, resources, the
proper investment and management backing," said IDG senior analyst Juliana Nelson. Her
survey of major e-commerce merchants found 92 percent of them concentrating on
building user loyalty programs to generate repeat visits and purchases. Personalization and
mass-customization are also being used by nearly 75 percent of the respondents.
"Personalized content and products are much more meaningful to the visitor and improve
the quality of the experience," she said.
"Henry C.K. Liu" wrote:
> MIT to offer cyberspace marketing major
>
> The MIT Sloan School of Management will announce Thursday plans to offer an MBA
> program in electronic commerce and marketing. The Cambridge, Mass.-school said the
> program will be available by the fall semester of this year. Participants will be
> required to complete a marketing or e-commerce project on the Net. The research
> component of the program will explore the pricing, distribution and positioning of
> products and services on-line; the pricing and packaging of digital information, and
> protection of intellectual property and personal information.