by Ted Cooper
“… our nation has been experiencing a higher growth rate
of productivity – output per hour worked – in recent years.
The dramatic improvements in computing power and communication and
information technology appear to have been a major force behind this
beneficial trend.”
Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Board Chairman
Commerce on the Internet has come a long way since 1993. Once virtually banned on the ‘Net, E-Commerce now has emerged as a prime factor in the explosive growth of the World Wide Web. Today, E-Commerce is even credited with playing a role in our robust national economy.
The significance of E-Commerce is emphasized in a recent report from the U.S. Department of Commerce entitled The Emerging Digital Economy. Below are several of the report’s findings:
Businesses in virtually every sector of the economy are beginning to use the Internet to cut the cost of purchasing, manage supplier relationships, streamline logistics and inventory, plan production, and reach new and existing customers more effectively.
Cost savings, increased consumer choice and improved consumer convenience are driving growth in the sale of physical goods and in the digital delivery of goods and services via the Internet.
Electronic commerce between businesses: Internet commerce is growing fastest among businesses. Businesses use the Internet to lower purchasing costs, reduce inventories and cycle times, provide more efficient and effective customer service, lower sales and marketing costs, and realize new sales opportunities.
Digital delivery of goods and services: Software programs, newspapers, airline tickets and music CDs no longer need to be packaged and delivered to stores, homes or news kiosks. They can be delivered electronically over the Internet.
Retail sale of tangible goods: Increasing demands on leisure time and the improvement of overnight and second-day delivery services that spurred the growth of catalog shopping in the 1980s and 1990s are now leading people to shop over the Internet.
The Internet makes electronic commerce affordable to even the smallest home office.
The Internet’s pace of adoption eclipses all other technologies that preceded it. Radio was in existence 38 years before 50 million people tuned in; TV took 13 years to reach that benchmark. Sixteen years after the first PC kit came out, 50 million people were using one. Once it was open to the general public, the Internet crossed that line in four years.
Traffic on the Internet has been doubling every 100 days.
Who is investing to build out the Internet? Consumer electronic companies, media giants, phone companies, computer companies, software firms, satellite builders, cell phone businesses, Internet service providers, television cable companies, even electric utilities.
As the number of Internet users grows, accessing the Internet becomes faster and easier to do.
In making the report, the Department of Commerce did little primary research, relying instead on studies and forecasts from analysts, plus anecdotal evidence reported by various companies.
Some of the conclusions of the report are supported by suspect evidence. For instance, it is true that the Internet was adopted by 50 million people faster than Radio was. But when Radio reach its 50 millionth listener, the world was inhabited by billions fewer people. Adoption as a percentage of population would more properly reflect the pace of adoption.
These shortcomings notwithstanding, The Emerging Digital Economy is an important ‘read’ for anyone interested in E-Commerce.
The full report is available at http://www.ecommerce.gov.
E-Commerce Web Site Starter Set
AssociatePrograms.com (http://www.associateprograms.com)
Are you looking for a simple, inexpensive way to dip your toe into the E-Commerce profit stream? You might try providing links from your Web site to sites that offer associate programs (also called affiliate, bounty, or referral programs). You place an icon or banner ad on your Web site that links to a site where a product or service is sold. Whenever someone linked from your site purchases the product or service, you receive a commission on the purchase. The commission generally ranges from one to twenty-five percent of the sales price.
Don’t retire just yet, though. Any commissions you earn will probably be measured in ones or tens, rather than hundreds or thousands of dollars.
AssociatePrograms.com has an extensive listing of these. Be aware, however, that many of the listings found there are written by people who want you to come to their own site, then follow their link to the program’s site, so that they have a chance to receive a commission if you buy anything. This means that YOU SHOULD NOT ACCEPT AS ACCURATE the information listed on AssociatePrograms.com about any program. Visit the program site yourself and carefully read all information on the program, including: the mechanism for tracking any visitors you refer, how you earn a commission, how often you get paid, etc. Also, be aware that some of the programs listed on AssociatePrograms.com are multi-level marketing programs (MLMs).
AssociatesProgram.com can be even more valuable to you if you have a product or service to sell via the Internet. Study the better programs listed there and you’ll have a starting point for developing your own affiliate program.
ClickZ Today
(http://www.clickz.com) This site features often-useful daily columns written by industry experts, as well as weekly interviews with industry leaders. The target audience is site publishers and interactive agencies. The editorial focus is advertising, marketing and sales. ClickZ recently gave birth to a daughter site, Zcommerce (http://www.zcommerce.com), which focuses more specifically on E-Commerce. Who’s Marketing Online (http://www.wmo.com) was also added to the site family via acquisition.
CyberAtlas
(http://www.cyberatlas.com) Eighteen months ago this was one of our favorite resources. If someone called to ask how many purple-haired cricket players in Miami owned an email account during in May, our first stop would be CyberAtlas. There we’d find capsules of research reports, along with links to the author’s Web site. Invariably, we could find answers to very bizarre queries.
Sadly, CyberAtlas seems to be only a shadow of its former self. At its best, the site was updated sporadically. Lately, updates seem to have slipped even further… perhaps to every once in awhile. For instance, as I write this in July 1998, 3 of the 5 articles under the front page’s HIGHLIGHTS section are dated 1997. The breadth of its current coverage doesn’t seem quite as strong, either. All this notwithstanding, we continue to use CyberAtlas. Whenever we need Web statistics and marketing information, CyberAtlas still merits a visit.
Emmerce
(http://www.computer-world. com/emmerce) Billed by Computer World (its publisher) as “The Webzine for Electronic Commerce Strategists”, Emmerce is full of helpful bits of information.
One recent article discussed the Web strategies and results of J. Crew, Estee Lauder, Borders Books, E-Loan and General Motors. Good information offered in digestible portions.
AllEC.com
(http://www.allEC.com)
Extensive collection third party articles and reports.
Hewlett Packard E Business Mag
(http://www.hp.com/Ebusiness/main.html) Useful links.
Net Profit Center
(http://www.net-profit-center.net)
Sponsored by my company, visit at your own peril (grin).
United Parcel Service –
E-Commerce
(http://www.ec.ups.com)
Nice overview of the subject. Send non-tech managers here.
ZDnet e-business
http://www.zdnet.com/icom/e-business/
Good Estats section.
Ted Cooper is a HAL-PC member who is president of Planet Computer Services. He can be reached at cooper@planet-connect.com (no Spam, please!) or (713) 526-6800. He leads the HAL-PC E-Commerce SIG, which meets the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 PM.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.