Net profit

Trading activity on the internet – in contrast to information about product and services – is a relatively new development. The major impediment till recently was lack of a reliable and secure method for transfer of funds. The ethos of open, unrestricted access could not easily square with security necessary to protect buyers and sellers. However, with the advent of sophisticated encryption algorithms, ´firewalls´ and user-access monitoring and restrictions, many of these basic problems have been overcome. Globally, Internet-based commerce is poised to take off and the projected turnover is expected to exceed USD 100 billion by the end of 1998. The figure was no more than USD 100 million in 1995.   Thus, Internet commerce is increasing at a phenomenal rate and the main beneficiaries are small-scale businesses which could otherwise never hope to market their ware beyond their local district. The inherent advantage of the Internet is local presence combined with the potential for global impact. It enables small players to market their products directly to a global audience. Also, increasingly, a larger proportion of Internet-based trade will be transnational.

An example of the brave new world which is already here is in a transaction recently concluded by this writer. Then located in Crete, he was recently able to rent out his apartment in Edinburgh, Scotland, to a couple in New York, all with no more effort than posting a "for rent" message in an appropriate buletin board. The rest of the transaction was negotiated and settled via email exchanges, and the landlord and tenant never met in person. As with learning and exchange of information, the Internet renders virtual the whole arena of trade and commerce. The attraction of buying and selling on the Internet is its seamlessness – geographical location of either buyer or seller does not matter. For trading in ´soft´ goods such as magazines, tutorial courses and counselling/consultancy, the Internet alone is sufficient. But in order to exploit the full benefit of e-commerce, aspects other than the Net have to be modernised and updated.