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1 

Image and product information – a basic ‘brochureware’ website or presence in online directories.

2 

Information collection – enquiries are facilitated through online forms.

3 

Customer support and service – ‘web  self-  service’ is encouraged through frequently 

asked questions and the ability to ask questions through a forum or online.

4 

Internal support and service – a marketing intranet is created to help with support process.

5 

Transactions – financial transactions such as online sales or the creation of an e-CRM system 

where customers can access detailed product and order information through an extranet.

Considering  sell-  side e-commerce, Chaffey and  Ellis-  Chadwick (2012) suggest there are six options:

● 

Level 0. No website or presence on web.

● 

Level 1. Basic web presence. Company places an entry in a website listing company names. 

There is no website at this stage.

● 

Level 2. Simple static informational website. Contains basic company and product infor-

mation, sometimes referred to as ‘brochureware’.

● 

Level 3. Simple interactive site. Users are able to search the site and make queries to 

retrieve information. Queries by email may also be supported.

● 

Level 4. Interactive site supporting transactions with users. The functions offered will vary 

according to company but they will usually be limited to online buying.

● 

Level 5. Fully interactive site supporting the whole buying process. Provides relationship 

marketing with individual customers and facilitating the full range of marketing exchanges.

Stage models have also been applied to SME businesses where Levy and Powell (2003) 

reviewed different adoption ladders which, broadly speaking, have four stages of (1) publish, 

(2) interact, (3) transact and (4) integrate.

Considering  buy-  side e-commerce, the corresponding levels of product sourcing applica-

tions can be identified:

● 

Level  I. No use of the web for product sourcing and no electronic integration with 

suppliers.

● 

Level II. Review and selection from competing suppliers using intermediary websites, B2B 

exchanges and supplier websites. Orders placed by conventional means.

● 

Level III. Orders placed electronically through EDI, via intermediary sites, exchanges 

or supplier sites. No integration between organisation’s systems and supplier’s systems. 

Rekeying of orders into procurement or accounting systems necessary.

● 

Level IV. Orders placed electronically with integration of company’s procurement systems.

● 

Level V. Orders placed electronically with full integration of company’s procurement, 

manufacturing requirements planning and stock control systems.

(In Chapter 6, the case of BHP Steel (p. 253) is an illustration of such a stage model.)

We should remember that typical stage models of website development such as those 

described above are most appropriate to companies whose products can be sold online 

through transactional e-commerce. In fact, stage models could be developed for a range of 

different types of online presence and business models, each with different objectives. As a 

summary to this section, Table 5.3 presents a synthesis of stage models for digital business 

development. Organisations can assess their position on the continuum between stages 1 and 

4 for the different aspects of digital business development shown in the column on the left.

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Chapter 5  Digital business strategy

When companies devise the strategies and tactics to achieve their objectives they may return 

to the stage models to specify which level of innovation they are looking to achieve in the future.