At the beginning of 1993, there were just 50 sites on the Web and now the number is estimated to be over one billion. The number of small firms engaged in electronic commerce is growing rapidly. The percentage of small businesses with access to the Internet nearly doubled in the past two years from under 22 percent in 1996 to over 41 percent in 1998. But there remain significant obstacles to small business involvement in this new medium. The SBA is working to help small businesses overcome these obstacles and take advantage of the many opportunities afforded by electronic commerce.
Electronic commerce refers to more than the buying and selling of goods over the Internet.
It is using the power of computers, the Internet, and shared software to send and receive product specifications, drawings, bids, purchase orders and invoices, and any other type of data that needs to be communicated to customers, suppliers, or employees. Electronic commerce is the new way to conduct business, affecting not only internal business activities within a firm, but also requiring new kinds of coordination with their clients and other institutions. In most industries this requires the adoption of new business models involving new organization structures and business strategies. The potential opportunities that electronic commerce and the Internet afford small business are staggering. The smallest companies can now have instant access to customers and suppliers worldwide in ways that only the largest multinational corporations have had in the past.