Commercialization of Web Portals
Portals may be defined as starting points on the Web for users which may lead them to e-business services (Adar & Huberman, 2000). Portals are part and parcel of e-business (Kappel, Werner, & Schroder, 1998) whose common goal is the electronic support of business or market transactions (Book, Gruhn, & Schope, 2000). E-business affects the way businesses interact with consumers, as well as the way businesses interact with one another. Electronic interactions both increase the efficiency of purchasing and allow an increased reach across a global marketplace. Partially as a result of competition among various Web portals, a more open e-business environment is developing, which allows businesses to trade more flexibly with each other (Trastour, 2003). In Germany, the e-business market is dominated by the business-to-business market, where German companies spend 2% of their annual earnings, on average, in developing their e-business capabilities. Their focus is on marketing, distribution, and services to other businesses. The motivation for this focus is that it generates the most sales compared to the business-to-consumer market, where the corresponding sales lag behind (Koeckeritz, 2003). This article focuses on the commercialization (e-business) side of Internet portals involving some of their technical issues and some of the advantages of their use. Although business to consumer portals are discussed, business to business portals are focused on due to their relatively huge market significance.