[Microsoft] Thus both the web-based live feedback programs as well as the product launch offers by Microsoft are highly effective methods for the company to gather customer views, interests and needs so that they can be used for betterment of their existing products as well as being useful in the development of their new products for the targeted market segment. These didactic online sessions help the company improvise their product design to suit the demands of the customers and thus improve the sales pitch for the product, which ultimately depends on customer satisfaction. Success in ecommerce is all about providing excellent customer service and incorporating customer friendly and interactive features on the web portals. The customer must have an easy to use interface and must be able to find his way through without much hassle. Ease of use and swift navigation around the different pages of the website are important as customers are not willing anymore to spend time waiting for WebPages to load as Mr. Sinclair, the General Manager at Microsoft.com puts it "People aren't forgiving of saying the web doesn't have to meet the criteria of the desktop: they used to be patient about slow pages, long forms and redrawing a whole page when u click a link. Not anymore." [Aoron Ricadela] With Internet technology growing at a fast pace, it is imperative for ecommerce companies to match the pace and have the latest hardware and software solutions in place to match it. Failing to do so would imply a serious lack of business acumen, which would affect business negatively. In the example cases, both Microsoft and Dell, two of the leading companies in the it sector, are continuously upgrading their web portal services and fine tuning their websites to provide ease of use and excellent product service for the customer. Microsoft's interactive webcast programs, Really Simple Syndication (RSS feeds) which notify the customers of any product centered information in real time, etc. are part of this restructuring process as the company steps into the future with the internet becoming the main segment for sales and product support. Dell too has reconfigured and updated its hardware and redesigned its software functions to...

From these case studies it transpires that success in the ecommerce domain is a result of continuous evolution where the corporations have to evolve their strategies to make their web portals scalable for the huge demands of the online segment where the growth is exponential with millions of users hitting the website in any given day.
Conclusion

Ecommerce is clearly the future of business. The phenomenal growth in this segment is attesting to the paradigm shift in business methods over the last decade or so. Microsoft and Dell standout as success stories in the ecommerce domain mainly due to their effective strategies and the constant evolution of their web portals to match with the growing demands of the online customer base. Both these companies leveraged the internet in an effective manner by implementing changes in both server hardware and in software by redesigning the web pages and content in such a manner to offer real time, interactive product-based services in a swift, safe and secure manner. Ease of use, scalability, security and interactive and effective information exchange are the keys to success in the world of ecommerce.

Bibliography

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Microsoft, 'the Windows feedback Program', retrieved March 14th 2008, at http://wfp.microsoft.com/

Aoron Ricadela (Jan 2004), "From Power on to Power Up," Information week

Microsoft, "Why Silverlight," retrieved March 14th 2008, from, http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/overview/default.aspx