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Oct. 6, 1999
''N ational M in o r it y business MJeek
C17
E-COMMERCE
INNOVATIONS
iNsrmnE
The following E-commerce tech
nologies are currently being developed
to meet the consumer’s need for easier
“virtual” shopping on the Internet.
The Smart Agents is an online tech
nology for searching out the best deal
for the consumer. As an example, if
someone was going to buy a new re
frigerator, they could program their
Smart Agent to go out there and put in
what features, style and brand names
they want. The Smart Agent would go
around to all o f the W eb sites and
negotiate a deal on behalf o f that con
sumer.
This technology comes in handy if a
city, county or state is putting out a
City of
PORTLAND, O R EG O N
The City of Portland is working with minority,
women and emerging small business entrepre
neurs to enhance employment opportunities.
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OFFICE OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
B y T homas F rey of the D a V inci
There’s a lot o f anxiety by people
over using credit cards on the Internet.
This is probably the # 1 reason for many
to hesitate doing their shopping this
way.
A pre-paid credit card in small
amounts o f $ 10 or $20 would make it
so that people would feel much freer to
purchase things over the Internet. This
would benefit the many who need credit
such as those with bad credit, foreign
ers, kids and others. The number o f
people willing to buy this way would
increase dramatically. For merchants,
there can only be an upside to it be
cause there w ould m ore available
money on the Internet.
C u rre n tly , th e co m p an y , E-
charge.com has figured out how to
make purchases over the Internet and
have it charged to your telephone bill.
The main complication involved in
setting up a pre-paid credit card is the
extra number o f digits required, mak
ing it technically complicated and sub
stantially costly to deal with. The mer
chants and bankers would have to be set
up to receive a credit card with 20 or
more digits on it.
&
request for proposals and they want
people to bid on it. They could send out
the Smart Agent program on the Internet
and it would automatically go out to
people and work with them to get their
bid on the proposal and actually bargain
back and forth between two people as a
way to get the lowest dollar.
There are those who don’t like this
approach.
One o f the problems with selling
online is that the philosophy has always
been thin-margins, high volume. You
are working with a big market and you
cut your cost down so that you’re mak
ing small profits on every one that’s
sold. It’s a cut-throat business where
people are trying to build customer
bases, trying to build a good number o f
web hits. They are actually selhngprod-
ucts at a loss so that they can get the
num ber o f web hits up to as high as
possible thinking that in the future,
they’re going to be able to sell prod
ucts that are more profitable. That’s
not been proven yet. There’s a lot o f
games being played on the Internet
right now just to build your customer
base, to build brand and name recogni
tion.
ITIE E -(O M M I R( I M Ml
BOX
W hen the husband and wife are
both working and there ’ s nobody home
to receive deliveries, people don’t buy
things over the Internet because there ’ s
not an easy way for things to get deliv
ered. You don’t w ant to wait at the
doorstep for the delivery guy to show
up.
An inventor named David Porter
has developed a E-commerce mail
box called the “Smart Box”. This is an
intelligent delivery box where if you
get groceries delivered, it keeps things
at the right temperature and the deliv
ery people can access it 24 hours a
day. There are several different proto
types for this “Smart Box”. It sits in
front o f your house and are designed
to not be too obtrusive such as the
bench seat model or the collapsible
type. Such an invention is one o f the
missing links to the E-commerce in
dustry. This may be the next major
appliance that everyone gets. The
“Smart Box” is not available yet. To
le a rn m o re a b o u t th is go to
w w w , smartbox.com on the Internet.
Thomas Frey, a fo rm er IB M engi
neer, is senior researcher a n d co
founder o f the D aVinci Institute, a
fu tu r e -s tu d ie s o rg a n iza tio n th a t
concentrates on inventions and tech
n o lo g y.
H is
w e b s ite
is
www.mammoth.org/ - davinci
We j oin in the celebration of Minority Business
Development Week, an opportunity to acknowl
edge the successes that provide role models for
our youth.
We are committed to the availability of training
as well as the use of the purchasing power of
the City.
Jim Francesconi
1221 S.W.Fourth Avenue
Portland, O regon 97204
(503) 823-3008
(503) 823-3017 -F A X
PORTLAND PARKS
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CHICKEN & BISCUITS
Salutes Minority
Business Week
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Jr. King Blvd.
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pleased to participate in this Special
Edition o f The Portland Observer.
Even though this is a Special
Relationship with The Portland
Observer. Portland Parks and
Recreation receives a very high
approval rating front the Citizens of
Portland, your coverage o f our plans
and events is an important
Contributor. Thanks for the Support
and the Great work that you do.......
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Charles Jordan
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