IT Enterprises is proposing to expand its current printed catalog for cars to include on-line catalog services. Eventually, the printed catalog will be eliminated and the service, which is currently concentrated in the Texas area, will expand to a global presence through the Internet. This fourth phase of the project examines the "make or buy" decision from the point of which (if any) of the company's Internet services should be outsourced to third parties. In addition, the entire itcars.com project is reviewed in light of a cost benefit analysis.
International Trading Enterprises was established in 1985 to help individuals and dealers sell cars, homes, motorcycles and boats. The company is based in Texas, but attracts buyers and sellers from outside the Texas area. The company recognizes that the Internet is an excellent way to expand its business, and that e-commerce will be the way in which businesses and consumers conduct transactions such as this in the future. To that end, the company is researching how to build an Internet presence which meets the needs of the company as well as the needs of its consumers, and which offers a profitable solution to the company's expansion goals.
ITE will not be the first Internet company to provide a car-finding service (the company has determined that the car catalog will be the first to go on-line); Auto Trade and other sites such as luxurycars.com are already on the Internet. However, itcars.com does hope to learn from the experience of its competitors and put its own experience into practice, as well.
The company will not be selling cars on the Internet. Instead, the site will be a place where consumers interested in buying or leasing new or used vehicles can go to locate those vehicles. Just as the company's printed catalog provides information about specific cars and ways to get in touch with the car's owners, so the Internet site will do the same. In short, itcars.com wi...