Summary: SR&J bookstore is now exploring the possibility into expanding into the e-commerce world. Currently we have a small side business that produces gift baskets for special occasions. Although this store is doing quite well at its current location, we fell that the opportunity to expand nationally and globally can take this portion of the business to new heights.
             The need for research into this business venture is great. Here are just a few key figures about the use of the Internet:
             Ø •Eighty-five percent of small businesses are expected to conduct business via the World Wide Web by the year 2002.
             Ø •The more than 7,100 Internet service providers (ISPs) in 2000 represent a 41 percent increase from a year ago. Most ISPs have fewer than 12 employees.
             Ø • The U.S. ISP market generated an estimated $15 billion in receipts in 1998, compared with $4 billion in the European ISP market.
             Ø •In 1999, small businesses with 5-99 employees spent about $9 billion for network hardware; businesses with 100-999 employees spent an estimated $14 billion.
             Ø • Some 85 percent of businesses with fewer than 100 employees had personal computers in 1999; more than 61 percent of these had access to the Internet.
             Ø • Firms with fewer than 10 employees invested more aggressively in e-commerce infrastructure than larger firms.
             Ø • Sources suggest that home-based businesses on average invest about $1,100 on Internet technology; very small businesses with fewer than 5 employees spend about $1,500 annually.
             Ø • Information technology-producing industries contributed more than one-third of total real economic growth between 1995 and 1998, sources estimate.
             Ø •By 2003, if current trends continue, business-to-business electronic commerce will account for almost 24 percent of total business-to-business commerce.
             Ø • Business-to-business e-commerce is projected to increase at a ...