The potential for e-commerce is huge. Recent research commissioned by IMRG found that over 51 per cent of British adults shopped online in the first three months of the year, suggesting that there is a real opportunity for businesses out there.

In February 2010, the 50 per cent benchmark was achieved for the first time ever and March saw further growth in the number of online shoppers to 51 per cent.

The majority of the British population aged 15 and over now purchase goods via the internet and, with 76 per cent of people now having access to the web, the customer base is large.

Conducted by the British Population Survey (BPS) on behalf of IMRG, the research provides a detailed analysis of the customer base for e-commerce.

IMRG and the BPS will be introducing the e-Shopper Index to regularly track the percentage of UK adults who shop online, providing further information for businesses considering a move to e-commerce, as well as those who already have an internet sales offering.

The index reveals that an additional 3.7 million people have become online shoppers in the past two years.

According to the organisations' report, there is still significant room for further steady long-term growth in internet access, providing more potential for an increasing customer base.

Even though the online shopping industry is continuing to hit significant target benchmarks, it is only reaching two-thirds of the market made up of people with internet access, according to the report. There is therefore an opportunity to maintain growth in the area.

This opportunity is further enhanced by the population's growing familiarity and engagement with the medium.

"Recent technology developments, particularly in the area of 'roaming' access via both laptops and hand held devices, are clearly playing a part in the development of the availability and convenience of online shopping services," commented Mike Hare, research director of the BPS.

"This has been particularly evidenced by an increase in laptop ownership from 34.15 per cent of households in March 2008 to 53.03 per cent in March 2010," he added.

So what do businesses need to consider when leveraging this selling opportunity?

Business Link advises organisations to consider a number of elements before investing in e-commerce. How products or services are going to be delivered is one of the things to bear in mind.

Firms also need to work out how they will collect payments, how they can maintain security and demonstrate this to the customer, how they can make themselves contactable to consumers and what processes they need to go through to comply with relevant regulations.

Security is a key consideration for any business setting up an online trading site. It is essential that they are protected from the threats posed by hackers, viruses, fraud and denial-of-service attacks.

There are some common security controls that can be put in place to mitigate these risks. User authentication is one of these and involves indentifying and verifying someone seeking to access an e-commerce system.

Among the techniques deployed is a user name and password combination. Businesses can also opt for two-factor authentication, requiring something the user has, like an authentication token, and something he/she knows, like a personal identification number.

Alternatively, they can use a digital certificate that enables authentication through the use of an individual's unique signing key.

Access control is another commonly used security technique and involves restricting the difference classes of users to subsets of information and ensures that they can only access date and services for which they have been authorised.

Data encryption, firewalls and intrusion detection are also important elements of security control. Businesses may want to seek the support of a third party provider when looking to implement this protection for their website.

 

E-commerce: The business potential