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BeOnTheNet's
Electronic Commerce |
BeOnTheNet's
Electronic Commerce
Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue 2
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Read 20 Reasons for your business to be on the Internet at http://www.beonthenet.com/20reasons.html
In This Issue:
Prices For Electronic Commerce Web Sites are on the rise. Business-to-business Internet transactions increased 1,000 percent in 1997 to $8 billion 58.4% of the surveyed companies say they will use electronic commerce for at least 25% of their purchases in the next 12 months!
Online Shopping to Overtake Direct Mail by Christmas 2000
Domain Name Registration Cost Reduced
New Survey finds close to 30 million Host Servers on the Internet
Prices For Electronic Commerce Web Sites are on the rise.
"MEDIAN PRICES for providing electronic commerce solutions have risen across the board in the past year, according to the latest NetMarketing Web Price Index.
The median price for adding a simple e-commerce solution to a small marketing site is up 150% from the March 1997 survey, from $10,000 to $25,000. The medians for the medium and large sites are also up, but not quite so drastically."
On a happier note:
Business-to-business Internet transactions increased 1,000 percent in 1997 to $8 billion
Forrester Research Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) estimates that business-to-business Internet transactions increased 1,000 percent in 1997 to $8 billion. Revenues are expected to reach $327 billion -- equivalent to 2.3 percent of total U.S. economic activity -- in 2002.
Growth prospects are expected to be best for intermediaries, as wholesale and business retail sales are forecast to grow from $2 billion in 1997 to $168 billion in 2002.
AND
Many of the world's largest companies no longer are leaving their computer operations to secretaries or "techies," as more chief executive officers are touting the benefits of electronic commerce. A new Price Waterhouse/World Economic Forum (WEF) survey found that about 80 percent of global CEOs said they expect e-commerce will reshape competition in their industries.
AND
The US and Europe will account for nearly $16 bil in on-line purchases in 2002, fueled by Internet-based card transactions, according to Datamonitor (London).
Visa & Thomas Register Survey
According to a recent online survey of 2,000 businesses conducted by Thomas Register and Visa US. 58.4% of the companies said they would use electronic commerce for at least 25% of their purchases in the next 12 months! 11.2% said they would use it for at least half of their purchases a huge increase from the 2.9% who say they now make 50% of their purchases online.
Online Shopping to Overtake Direct Mail by Christmas 2000
This piece is extracted from
ActivMedia's just released FutureScapes study
you can find more information about this study at:
Source:ActivMedia, Inc. copyright 1998, research@activmedia.com ,
http://www.activmedia.com , 603-924-9100.
Domain Name Registration Cost Reduced
The price of .com just went down. Network Solutions Inc., the keeper of the .com, .net and .org domain name registries, said yesterday that it has eliminated the Intellectual Infrastructure Fund portion of its fees. As of April 1, registering a domain name will cost $70 rather than $100 for the first two years. Annual renewals will be $35 rather than $50.
The National Science Foundation authorized NSI in 1995 to set aside 30 percent of domain name registration fees for the Internet Intellectual Infrastructure Fund. The fund was created to offset government funding for the preservation of the intellectual infrastructure of the Internet. More than $45.5 million has been deposited into the fund, and none has been spent.
Direct Mailers Take a Hit from Online Retailers
Direct mailers in some categories, like music and travel, are already feeling competition from online sellers. By Christmas 2000, direct mailers and cataloguers in nearly all categories can expect to feel the pinch, according to ActivMedia's just released FutureScapes study. Over 80% of FutureScapes respondents expect to shop online in place of mail order in the near future; two-thirds expect to shop more online and less in catalogs within two years. And the longer people have been online, the more likely they are to shop there.
Cyber-shopping also threatens traditional merchant storefronts, according to FutureScapes. Over 85% of online shoppers report a high degree of comparison shopping for features and prices among known products, and nearly 60% express willingness to purchase from any suitable vendor regardless of location. Once products are identified, nearly half of FutureScapes respondents are willing to close the transaction directly at the Website, which models the traditional retail world.
Traditional marketing strategies such as branding have different levels of impact online. For instance, familiar brands continue to attract the online consumer in many instances. For other purchases, however, little known suppliers actually have an advantage. As new technologies allow remote viewing and product manipulation, consumer attitudes toward online shopping and the importance of brand identity will change even more. Businesses have the opportunity of a lifetime during the transition decade to build new, more powerful brand identities online and grab market share from slower, less 'Net savvy competitors.
ActivMedia's FutureScapes study describes how nearly 6,000 Internet users have changed the way they view and use the world because of 'Net technologies. The highly comprehensive, detailed study shows how Internet users have changed the way they interact, gather information, budget, travel, purchase, and plan both at home and work. This eye-opening data will permanently reshape understanding of what strategies and markets will succeed in the Internet decade.
Internet tax-free for now
An agreement has been reached to keep items sold on the Internet free of new taxes, at least for the next few years.
The agreement, hammered out between Rep. Christopher Cox, R-California and Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt, calls for a three-year moratorium on new taxes.
However, it would let state and local governments keep any taxes already imposed on online services. The plan would also set up a congressional commission to find ways to tax the Internet.
The move comes after disagreement over a proposed House bill, called the Internet Tax Freedom Act, that would have kept state and local governments from taxing the Internet for at least six years. The Clinton administration and many in Congress are at odds with the Nations Governor's who are seeking to apply a standard sales tax to online commerce.
Clinton said, "There should be no special breaks for the Internet, but we can't allow unfair taxation to weigh it down and stunt the development of the most promising new economic opportunity in decades,"
The president credited the technology industry with a significant role in the current good economic times, and predicted the Internet would play an even greater part in the economy's continued growth and health. "This explosion of real commerce has the potential to increase our prosperity, to create more jobs, to improve the lives of our people and to reach into areas that have not yet felt prosperity,"
Government figures show Internet commerce totaled more than $8 billion in 1997, but is expected to grow to more than $300 billion by 2002. Currently, Internet companies are required to collect sales taxes only if they are shipping the product to the same state in which the company is based.
New Survey finds close to 30 million Host Servers on the Internet
According to a Network Wizards, ( www.nw.com ) survey performed in January 1998 there are currently 29, 669, 611 Host Server computers connected to the Internet.
The Internet grew by more than 50% in the last half of 1997 and has grown by 300% since January of 1996!
Editor's Note
Building a business on the Internet is no different than building a business in the real world its just "faster and cheaper"
The Following Steps are necessary for success:
- Establishing your credibility as a seller
- Presenting to your visitors your "Unique Selling Perspective" - tell them why it is to their advantage to do business with you via the Internet
- A comprehensive web marketing plan which integrates with your "real reality" marketing plan.
- A credit card merchant account
- A sophisticated, reliable e-commerce "shopping cart" system
- A proven search engine strategy
- Effective online PR
- Effective use of direct email (not spam)
- Internet advertising and/or networking
- Copy re-writing, testing, and website redesign
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