Internet shopping: February 23, 1998 issue of New Thinking

February 23, 1998 New Thinking:
Internet shopping

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February 23, 1998

Internet shopping

By Gerry McGovern

“Make no mistake about it: The Internet has arrived as a shopping channel.” So states Stephanie M. Shern in a recently published comprehensive report by Ernst & Young entitled ‘Internet Shopping.’

What an extraordinary statement, particularly when you consider that it is merely five years ago this February since NCSA released Mosaic, the browser that made the Web a reality for millions.

Internet Shopping is an interesting document in many ways. It is full of superlatives. Full of phrases with a ring of history to them. Phrases such as: “The Internet has forever changed the way we do things; Ernst & Young expects the Internet to revolutionize retailing.”

One point that Internet Shopping makes strongly is that there is a lot more to shopping than simply the purchase. The browser is an aptly named device and many shoppers are using the Internet to browse, collecting information on the products and services they would like to buy and then completing the purchase by phone, fax or face-to-face.

Internet shopping is not without its problems and Ernst & Young isolate fulfillment, security and taxation as being key issues. However, they believe that in time these and other issues will be addressed successfully.

The report oozes a sense of historic change. 41 percent of US households have computers, 20 percent are online, with 11 percent more planning to go online within the next twelve months, bringing the total up to 1 in 4 US households online. 32 percent of those online have purchased online with another 30 percent interested in web shopping. (Computer products, books, travel, clothing and music are the most commonly purchased online products.)

This is an excellent report and what makes it even more excellent is that it is free. “Ernst & Young is delighted to share this study with you.” And why wouldn’t they? Spread the good news and then everybody can share in an expanding market. Why, in some cases it might make sense not to sell your report but in fact to pay the right type of people to read it.

Well, maybe that might be stretching it a bit, but the essential point I’m trying to make is that in an expanding world, expand. In a network (as the Internet is), network. Spread out. Be generous. What you give you will get back. Share your information and your information will grow and bear fruit for you. Everybody who brings something to the table creates growth at the table.

The Internet needs continued momentum to reach its roots deep into the mass of people. This newsletter, for example, is free because in some small way it attempts to contribute to that momentum, because such momentum is good for me, seeing that I make my living from the Internet.

Of course, while I fundamentally believe in the Internet, I realize that nothing this big, nothing this revolutionary is going to be all-positive. Internet shopping is a boom for one and will help close the shop of another.

Whatever, there is no escaping the reality that this is a time of great change, where some things get swept along and some get washed away.

Gerry McGovern

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“The Internet has forever changed the way we do things; Ernst & Young expects the Internet to revolutionize retailing.”