The Business Internet and Intranets:
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sales of approximately $1.5 million, of which 60 percent comes from export sales to libraries and individuals through its direct mail
book club. Kenny's employs twenty-two people, has just one retail store, and operates an extensive mail order business. It quickly
spotted the opportunity offered by the World Wide Web for a simple extension to its core business. Kenny's goal was to provide customers
with information electronically and to enable them to make their purchases online.
| Business Process | Pre-Internet | Post-Internet |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing | Creation of company brochure (expensive) |
Large and regularly
updated interactive brochures via WWW |
| Weekly Mailing List of New Books on Irish Topics |
Labor intensive
preparation of paper copies for postage |
Sent via e-mail to 40
percent of existing list recipients; 200 percent increase in list |
| "Irish Book Parcel" | Limited access to potential new customers |
Greatly expanded
access to potential new customers |
| Customer Inquiries Turnaround |
Days, due to use of post by customer |
Minutes, due to use of e-mail |
| Secondhand Book Catalog | Paper-based catalog
quickly out of date and reaches existing customers only |
Electronic online
catalog updated weekly; existing and new customers due to WWW pages |
| Customer Relations | Telephone calls
limited due to time zone differences |
Reduction of time
zone problems by using e-mail |
| Publicity/Corporate Image | "Old and Staid" | "Modern and Progressive" |
| Monitoring Existing Customer Stocks |
Telephone and library | Telnet into the libraries' online database |
Kenny's has seen many other benefits from its Internet presence, including the following:
- During its first year, Kenny's Web site received inquiries resulting in two hundred new
customers for its Irish Book Parcel; these new customers represent $50,000 in per annum sales
on an on-going basis.
- Due to the increased speed of response made possible by the Internet, time lag in replying
to customers has been eliminated.
- The currency and availability of the secondhand book catalog has been considerably enhanced.
- Kenny's has realized some of the benefits to small companies in areas of limited local market
size of the ability to sell products globally.
- The Internet reduced Kenny's advertising costs while extending the reach of its advertising
campaign.
- The Internet provided a non-proprietary, low-cost medium for organizations from anywhere in the world, regardless of size, to trade with Kenny's via computer networks. 77
Maryse Collins, Kenny's marketing manager, believes that "on the Internet all organizations are equal in the sense that the e-mail address or World Wide Web pages of large and small companies are indistinguishable." 78
The Web is a gift to small firms in industries in which (1) customers know what they want and don't need to inspect goods before placing orders; (2) existing retail systems are limited in inventory and ease of access (try locating, say, a biography of the Irish patriot Wolfe Tone anywhere in the city nearest you); (3) goods can be shipped by mail, Federal Express, or UPS; (4) the gross margin on a single sale is high enough to cover the costs of the Internet service (books typically have a 20 to 40 percent margin); and (5) two hundred extra customers would make a significant contribution to profits.
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76.William Golden, "Electronic Commerce at Work: Kenny's Bookshop and Art Galleries, Galway, Ireland," in Ninth International Conference on EDI - IOS, eds. Paula M. C. Swatman, Joze Gricar, and Jozica Novak (Bled, Slovenia: Zalozba Moderna Organizacija, 1996), 294-301.
77. Ibid., 297. 78. Ibid., 296.
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