Good practice:

Electronic Commerce Platform for the retail associated in the small town of Binéfar-Spain

Binéfar is a town of about 9.400 inhabitants in Huesca province of Spain. In 2003 a group of merchant entrepreneurs decided to start through online sales in order to develop their traditional stores and try to attract new customer.
They began to group into an electronic commerce platform in which each store has its own space, but they share services as training, updating of new technologies or promotion.
The e-Commerce Platform is led through an Electronic Commerce Commission and an Expert in New Technologies, which ensures the development and improvement of e-commerce integrated in the Platform. It has the support of the Government of Aragón, through the current public aid calls.
Today, at the Binefar’s Electronic Platform, we can find a wide variety of products. Their success stories endorse and inspire too many small retailers bet on electronic commerce.
Internationalization: The platform receive around of 20.000 daily visits from many countries (Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Greece, Finland, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Slovakia, Latvia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Poland, or Norway). Several of the shops occupy first positions in the Searching engines.
The success of the platform is given by:
Cooperative: The experts in internet sales give their knowledge and training.
Economic: It works as a team to grow all together, looking for improvements that reduce individual costs.

It is a “code platform” (own design) fully adaptable to the requirements of each retail. The initial investment was about 40.000 euros, and the annual maintenance is about 1.400 euros.

For the companies of the Binéfar’s E-commerce Platform, it has become an ally, a driver of their business, and a commercial alternative.
We can talk about successful companies that have used technology well to improve their business, put the customer at the center of the business and sell more.
It is very important to be clear that the strategy of the e-commerce world is different of the one in the physical store. Both electronic commerce and physical space must live together.

The main reason why e-commerce sites fall is because the entrepreneur is not truly committed or convinced to do good business on Internet. Entrepreneurs believe that they should be increasing their sales in a matter of a couple of week… therefore many of them do it wrong.

Getting entrepreneurs and future retailers to know and experience how the Internet can help them improve the quality of their business.
A successful electronic business can be shared, disseminate and to expand the knowledge of online sales and their use.
Increase the chances of success on the internet allow them to see and take advantage of new opportunities for online commerce more easily.