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Guide 3. What can I do on the Internet?

Electronic commerce (eCommerce) (screen 19 of 20)

What's in it for your cultural organisation?

While the ways you can use the Internet that we've mentioned are interesting and exciting, the questions that should be asked by you - as cultural workers and cultural organisations - are:

• What can the Internet do for me in developing my business?
• How can using the Internet make my work more efficient or more effective?
• How can the Internet improve some aspect of what I already do?
• How can the Internet open new opportunities for me or provide new ways of doing things?

These are commercial questions which need to be related to the business aspects of your website. The Internet does provide commercial opportunities. If you do business on the Internet you're involved in electronic commerce(1) or eCommerce. Find out more at EC-G(2) or at ZdNet(3).

It is important to see the Internet in a commercial light, because there is a cost for its use. There also is an investment in time to learn how to use the Internet effectively, and for updating and maintaining the website, and in researching, purchasing and utilising new technologies as they are developed.

Will this investment provide a return? Against this, what will be the cost to you or your organisation of not putting your business online?

Electronic commerce opportunities are growing with the Web

The Web is a huge resource that is becoming increasingly popular. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that in the twelve months to February 1998, more than 4 million Australians used the Net. This figure had increased to 6.9 million in the twelve months to November 2000.

Websites that sell

In the Australian online cultural world, plenty of websites already take advantage of opportunities to make sales. Look at sites that promote commercial use of the Net such as the Australian War Memorial shop(4), or the National Library of Australia which lists the products on the Gifts and Merchandise(5) screen and has a link on each of those screens to the secure online order form(6).

Australian booksellers which sell books online include stores like Gleebooks(7) and Andrew's Books(8), and you can see more bookstores with an online presence at the Australian Bookshop Directory(9). Already there are sites that sell tickets to concerts(10) and Australian music(11), indigenous art(12)and arts and crafts(13).

Over the next few years the extent of electronic commerce will increase markedly. People are already making bookings over the Internet, planning their holidays, reading magazines and newspapers, exchanging information, and doing a thousand things they never thought they would be doing electronically, even just a few years ago.

Cultural organisations need to be a part of this electronic commerce to realise their full potential. Your clients increasingly will expect to be able to do business with you using the Internet. The Internet will help you to maintain your existing share of the domestic cultural audience, as well as attract new audiences from the global Net community. It will also allow you to provide new products and services to this expanded audience.

For other information about electronic commerce, visit the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE)(14).

 

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References

1. Electronic commerce and cultural organisations http://culture.gov.au/articles/1998/04/ecom.htm
2. EC-G (Ecommerce-Guide.com) http://ecommerce.internet.com/
3. ZdNet http://www.zdnet.com/products/ecommerceuser.html
4. Australian War Memorial shop http://www.awm.gov.au/shop/
5. National Library of Australia Gifts and Merchandise http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/giftmrch/
6. National Library of Australia secure online order form http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/giftmrch/order.html
7. Gleebooks http://www.gleebooks.com.au/
8. Andrew's Books http://www.andrewsbooks.com/
9. Australian Bookshop Directory http://danny.oz.au/books/shops/
10. Ticketek Australia http://www.ticketek.com.au/
11. Australian Music Web Site http://www.amws.com.au/
12. Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre http://www.aboriginalart.com.au/
13. CraftSite http://www.craftaus.com.au/
14. National Office for the Information Economy http://www.noie.gov.au/

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