Speed to the e-market is the key determinant to success. Customer expectations, demands and attention spans have evolved as well as competitors' capabilities. But, while products and services need to be brought to market quickly, being first to market no longer guarantees immediate or long-term success. Profitability in e-commerce still requires conducting careful market, industry and competitor research to ensure successful targeting and branding. Small business has no role to play in shaping e-commerce legislation.
Governments are bureaucracies that are typically slow to make decisions.
Armed with the Internet, small businesses can now work together to gather, analyze and position information so that Governments are more willing to address the needs of the new economy. Internet and e-commerce applications allow each individual to specify their needs to businesses. However, for most businesses, trying to accommodate each customer without understanding segmentation of larger groups means being lost in a pool of discrete and often conflicting customer data. So, while businesses may need to focus on understanding smaller groups of customers, they still need to aggregate information to understand current and upcoming trends. The business models underlying today's e-commerce are different from those of the last 10 to 50 years.