Doing Business on the Internet

Companies can use their presence on the Web to access the growing number of websites of interest. There are different ways in which businesses can benefit from its functions:

s Businesses use e-mail to deal with customers, to make and respond to enquiries quickly and to communicate with employees.

s A corporate website may be used for publicity, for selling or for sharing information.

s E-commerce or “online trading” has proved to be very successful for some companies. One of the advantages of this form of trading is that users can come to the website 24 hours a day. E-commerce has even acted as a form of advertising and increased levels of business in traditional bricks-and-mortar shops. But to succeed, a company needs a combination of traditional retailing and e-commerce: clicks-and-mortar.

s Marketing on the Web can be achieved by setting up a website and making it attractive to visitors.

s The Internet is a powerful tool for gathering data. Companies can use it to look up other companies and their products, access financial information, find market information, foreign exchange rates and so on.

s Using computer networks to transmit audio and video data between two or more people in different locations (video-conferences) is a time-saving method of communication.

s Many companies place their recruitment needs on their own websites or on the websites of recruitment agencies.

s Large corporations place their annual reports on their websites in order to provide a service to their shareholders.

Exercises in Word Study

Ex.1. Form verbs from the following nouns:

presence, response, publicity, trading, location, recruitment.

Ex.2. Give the English for:

робити запит; спілкуватися з працівниками; корпоративна веб-сторінка; ділитися інформацією; електронна торгівля; перевага; збирати дані; валютний курс; комп’ютерна мережа; відео-конференція; метод, що заощаджує час; річний звіт; надавати послугу; акціонери, традиційна торгівля, поєднання електронної торгівлі з традиційною.

Ex.3. Match words from list A with words from list B that have a similar meaning.

Ex.4. Find suitable opposites to the following words and phrases:

quickly, successful, advantage, attractive, “bricks and mortar” trade.