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to define one's own meta tags ~ title, description and keywords. Why? Search engine spiders still look for these tags when crawling, and still take these tags into consideration when the algorithm evaluates the page for keyword density and quality content. This can actually make or break you as far as how quickly your pages will actually get indexed in the search engines as well as your search engine ranking, which is how shoppers find you. People search by keywords. If they can't find you because of this, no e-commerce business will live very long.

The last major concern for the online store owner is photography. Your website visitors cannot touch the product, nor can they see it up front close and personal. Your e-commerce venue's success depends on the best photo's that can possibly be taken, to give the customer a real and true picture of the product so they can "see it" for themselves. In a brick and mortar store people can see, feel, even smell the item, if applicable. So your photos and descriptions need to be the best they can be.

However as programs for e-commerce become more sophisticated these issues are usually taken care of, and you really DO have all the tools you need at your fingertips to setup an online shop.

There is no question ~ e-commerce is here to stay.

With rising gas prices, less time available to do everything, and the convenience of the Internet, e-commerce provides everyone who has access to a computer an easy way to shop from the comfort of their home or office as well as compare products and prices, in a way not available in a brick and mortar environment. You cannot go out shopping in your pajamas, at 2 in the morning or compare prices from 5 different stores instantly in the brick and mortar world.

Less travel means less wear and tear on your vehicle, less gas used, less pollution. Having many people's products delivered by UPS or Fedex is like public transportation for the gift industry. One truck from a courier service can make many deliveries ~ let's say 100 deliveries to 100 different households. That cuts out 100 individual vehicles roaming from mall to mall. So, e-commerce can even be considered environmentally friendly.

Brick and mortar establishments are utilizing e-commerce more and more. The store owners are finding that they can stock so many more items in their online store than they could ever fit on their shelves. Plus, it's another avenue of sales for them that they would not otherwise have. And should the store owner wish to retire or close the shop, they always have their e-commerce venue to rely on.

As Internet technology becomes even more sophisticated, security will become even more tight and much improved both for e-commerce store owners and shoppers, so yes, there is no doubt that e-commerce has a very bright future.

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