Ensuring quick order turnaround, deemed a necessity by consumers, can introduce a completely new infrastructure and cost dimension to the business. On the positive side, however, an entire industry is evolving to offer inexpensive online credit card processing services to merchants, thus there should be little need for SMEs to build these capabilities on their own. It is also only a matter of time before the banks offer this to SMEs directly. It will be particularly easy if retailers already offer credit card service, and even if they don't, other third-party services will do it for them. Finally, SMEs should study whether or not their products are suitable to deliver via e-commerce.
Delivery is a huge challenge, in terms of cost and added complexity.
Because e-commerce is still in its infancy, there are numerous standards, approaches and methods available. While this adds options and flexibility into the e-commerce arena, it also generates confusion for vendors and consumers. Encryption and security are vital, but so to are cost, simplicity and uniformity. Governments can help in this process by adopting consistent approaches among themselves in dealing with their own e-commerce applications. Therefore, while it appears that most small and medium-sized businesses are hooked up to the web, there remain large differences in how this new information resource is being used.