E-entrepreneurs: Who are they?

E-entrepreneurs: Who are they?

JAKARTA (JP): Arif and Yenny are not exactly what you would call avid Internet users. They hardly even use computers themselves. Surely, not the typical E-entrepreneur profile.

What this couple does best is running PT Omnimedia Citraglobal, probably the largest mail order company in Indonesia, with 14 years experience. Each year they send out hundreds of thousands of catalogs.

Before the end of the year, in collaboration with Plasmedia, www.plasmedia.com, they will launch their own webstore -- www.JohnClaudia.com -- offering exclusive collections of watches, jewelry, perfumes and other accessories.

Even though they are new in e-commerce, they will be running a first-rate webstore, sporting many sophisticated features. The webstore will also be tightly integrated into their existing business operation.

New players

In a somewhat unexpected way, Omnimedia stands a better chance of success than many other players. They represent a different sort of e-entrepreneur, one who starts from the business instead of technology. Most of them already run well-established companies.

Their strong potential for success lies in the understanding that the emphasis in e-commerce should be on the commerce first rather than the "e" electronic. The cardinal rule, in any kind of commerce, is to provide quality goods and services at prices that the market finds attractive and a solid operation to back it up. A rather obvious rule, and yet it seems to escape many of the other e-entrepreneurs.

The second area of emphasis, technology, is becoming less of an issue. When a company lacks expertise in the rapidly changing world of web technology, in many cases they actually find better solutions by outsourcing it to specialists. This method allows them to select the best partners they can find.

Taking the e-plunge

With the right partner handling technical aspects, a company can get straight to the core business.

"Our decision to enter e-commerce is largely due to the solution package proposed by Plasmedia, called Frontline," said Arif. "It lets us control our webstore easily without having to learn all the intricacies of web technology."

With Frontline, a company can have a full-featured, custom- designed webstore up and running in less than a month. Store owners are also equipped with Frontline Direct, an easy to use application to manage the online store.

"The reason behind Frontline is to create world-class e- commerce websites that require a minimum amount of both initial investment and operational cost," explained Tony J. Djohan, Business Manager of Plasmedia.

Plasmedia specializes in developing top-notch web and multimedia solutions for multinational corporations such as Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank.

The web development team consists of members from various backgrounds and expertise. This diversity is one of the key success factors in building integrated e-commerce solutions.

For Omnimedia, this means that they can rest assured their technology matters are in capable hands.

"We chose Plasmedia to be our long-term partner because of their competence in technology and their understanding of our business," Yenny said.

What else?

Even after setting up a high-quality webstore and filling it up with great products, the work is far from done. Just like the owners of regular stores, online store owners always have the issues of marketing, operation, customer service and production or sourcing.

At this stage, managing expectations is important. Tony said of Arif and Yenny: "They believe in the potential of Internet commerce, and they are willing to commit to it. At the same time, they do not get unrealistic expectations for their store."

Future e-entrepreneurs, whether new to business or not, would benefit from their experience. The partnership between Omnimedia and Plasmedia makes a winning combination, resulting in a competitive online store. At the end of the day, Internet shoppers get the benefits.

To learn more about putting e-commerce to work, please contact Plasmedia at 62-21-5484388 or e-mail info@plasmedia.com.