A fter inching along for over a decade, electronic commerce is now poised to take the giant strides that industry experts expected years ago. Electronic commerce means different things to different people, but in the electrical industry it includes electrical distributors electronically transmitting or receiving information such as purchasing orders, pricing, shipping information and other product or marketing information to and from manufacturers, independent manufacturers' reps and end users.

The articles on the following pages explore several key issues in this fast-changing arena: ensuring that computer systems are up to converting over to electronic commerce; deciding to invest in one or both of the CD-ROM catalogs now on the market; and deciding what to include on a web site, or whether to build one at all.

Before delving into these issues, let's first dispel some misconceptions regarding electronic commerce:

Myth #1—You have to be a big company to afford EDI, bar coding or other tools of electronic commerce.
On the contrary, in researching the articles for this month's issue, Electrical Wholesaling found companies of all sizes have successfully implemented these tools.

Myth #2—If your company doesn't have a web site up and running yet, you are hopelessly behind the times.
Dozens of electrical distributors, manufacturers and independent reps booted up their web sites last year. But in doing an extensive surf mission of about 100 sites in the electrical industry, EW's editors found that relatively few of these sites had more than what a customer could already find in a corporate-capabilities brochure.

Myth #3—CD-ROM catalogs will make paper catalogs extinct.
Check out Managing Editor Douglas Chandler's review on p. 29 of the two largest CD-ROM catalogs for the electrical industry now on the market and you will see that while these products have magnificent search capabilities, in some instances those dog-eared catalogs will still come in handy.

Myth #4—All business transactions will become electronic in the next five years.
Some of the more technologically advanced manufacturers are receiving 40% to 50% of their orders via EDI and hope to drive that number up to over 80% in the next few years. But over 50% of all electrical distributors are still not doing EDI at all. And as you will read in the article "The Computers of Commerce" on the next page, it will be a long process to make electronic ordering universal in the electrical wholesaling industry.

Related Articles » In today's age of electronic communications and overnight delivery, » The industry's adoption of new technologies lags far behind its rhetoric. » The entire electrical industry needs to focus on this job. » Electrical Distributors should beware the perils of serving two masters » Penetrating MRO » Integrated Electrical Supply » The Computers of Commerce » Electrical distributors have two general CD-ROM catalog products from which to choose. » Electronic Commerce » Budget Cutbacks Threaten Critical Safety Function