It is tempting to say that Web business is business on the Web, but there is much more to it than that. The Internet has facilitated new ways of doing business and hence new businesses. World-wide, real-time auctions (eBay), books and other products sold through affiliate programs (Amazon.com) and third-party perishable inventory sales (invented but perhaps not perfected by Priceline.com) are examples of businesses that require the Internet to operate.

 

Of course, some Internet commerce is simply an extension of sales to a new channel of distribution. Wal-Mart on the Web is an Internet version of the traditional retail chain and Red Envelope is a gift store on the Web that could, conceivably, exist without the Internet. Indeed, the most successful e-commerce stores right now are so-called "bricks and clicks," which are brick and mortar stores with Web sites.

 

Other sites serve information and service functions for traditional businesses, but even here there are many examples of services that are highly-dependent on the Internet, such as package tracking for Federal Express or UPS.

 

So Web business is business that is made possible by the Web. Your first challenge, then, is to consider a business that is possible because of the Internet.

 

BUSINESS IDEA

 

Although you might have a Eureka! idea while sitting on your porch sipping lemonade, it is far more likely that a good idea originates from a logical approach to idea generation. The best place to start is with consumer needs and wants, because satisfying them is what successful marketing, hence business, is all about.

 

Needs and Wants. Existing businesses have many ways to determine needs and wants of customers or potential customers. Sometimes customers just tell them what they want, perhaps by not buying their product! Or they may survey potential customers or simply observe competition. But as an entrepreneur, you will have to figure out how to fill a new need or want. One of the best places to start is with consumer "problems."

 

Think of some problems you are having as a consumer or business-to-business customer. Chances are that other people are having the same problems. For example, why is it that it is so difficult to find items from week to week in grocery stores? Sometimes they are out of stock, but other times they have been dropped. So you have to go to another store for these items but then they disappear from that store. Do we have time for this?

 

Maybe Web grocers are the answer. Or it may be that the need is just information—what happened to this product? How can I replace my stock of it? Why can't someone do this for me? If you list some of your frustrations as a consumer, you will probably end up with a good idea for a new business.

 

Another logical approach to coming up with a new business idea is called Morphological Analysis (see diagram). This is a technique that forces you to consider new and different combinations of product features. Some of the combinations will be products that already exist and so all you could do with that idea would be to enter an existing market with the same product. Other combinations would be nonsensical, so it would make sense to do nothing with them! But others may be so novel that they create new business categories that no one had imagined before. Of course, such ideas could be worth millions.

 

Automobiles sold to adults through retail is automobile dealerships—not too much opportunity here. But what about automobiles sold to adults through the Internet. This is Autobytel.com! Autos-sold-to-kids is nonsensical, but not toys sold to kids through TV. Is there a business opportunity for music sold to kids over the Internet? There are new Internet businesses selling premium pet food over the Internet. Are Internet investments for pets the next big thing?

 

A final approach to coming up with new business ideas is brainstorming. Get together with people you trust and brainstorm new business ideas. The give and take may produce just the right idea. Still, if the idea is not a response to a consumer need or want or a novel solution, it has less of a chance of success.