Product characteristics and Internet commerce benefit among small businesses

Conventional wisdom indicates that companies offering digital and information‐based products that can easily be delivered online, are likely to benefit from Internet commerce. However, the validity of this statement is not clear. Endeavours to explore the relationship between product characteristics and their impact on Internet commerce among small businesses. We classified products into search and experience, tangible and intangible goods and examined their effects on Internet commerce benefit. The key finding is that product characteristics alone might not have significant influence on Internet commerce benefit and further research into market scope, characteristics of business sector and value chain is needed to understand more precisely what contributes to Internet commerce benefit.