Web: computing tool, business tool – Malaga firms in a case study

Abstract

Electronic commerce is a rising variable. The total value of transactions carried out through the Internet increases with each passing day. But this growth implies the development of web pages to support electronic commerce.The aim of this work is to present the different stages of web page development found in companies in Malaga (Spain). Thus we analyse if the pages actually allow electronic commerce or are simply informative.A total of 1,488 pages have been evaluated. Almost 80% of these firms limit their presence on Internet to strictly informative web pages provided by the telephone company.A little over the remaining 20% have their own URL, but less than 13% of the total are active. So, only 190 pages appear in the final count.Slightly over half of these 190 pages offer the products of the companies and allow some contact with the client, but 26 pages (13.58%) are still only informative. Fully developed pages, from an electronic commerce point of view, amounted to under 6%.The present findings are far from allowing us to assert that most companies have implemented an electronic commerce system. Unless most companies feel the need for being on Internet, they do not believe their presence to be a valuable commercial channel for them. Consequently, for the time being, only a minority of companies, and belonging to very concrete sectors, carry out fully electronic commerce.