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Oct. 6, 1999
''National ¿M inority 'business 'W eek
C3
WHO NEEDS
THE WEB?
B y J erry D awson
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by J frry D awson
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C onsum ers will spend a total <
billion, according to analysts fror
season, up from last y e a r’s S3.1
pingis expected to
i of the future opj
îalysts say the $6 bill!
billion by 2003.”
teractive
erce is 12 to 15 times g reater than consum er m arkets.
roup estimates th a t I
$ Y o u d o .lt really is that simple. If
you are in business today you must
be on the Internet, m uch like you
had to be in the Yellow Pages in the
past. Now m any people look first,
and only, on the web w hen re
se a rc h in g b u sin e ss n eed s and
pever even use the Y ellow Pages.
If your business is not on the
Internet, you are never going to
get the chance to m eet these cus
tomers.
< And is it enough to ju st be on
(he Internet? N ot any more. You
fhust be able to conduct business
there, too. E -com m erce in the
p n ite d States is grow ing 30 tim es
{he rate o f the overall econom y.
O ver 53 m illion US adults are
Internet users and m any o f them
are not ju st brow sing - they are
buying and selling goods and ser
vices online.
How can businesses m ake cer
tain they have a strong, functional
Internet presence? Get an expert to
help. If your site was created for
$500, it probably looks like it, too.
If cu sto m ers can not p u rch ase in
a secu re, fast, re lia b le en v iro n
m ent - they w o n ’t pu rchase at all.
R em em ber, y our co m p etitio n is
lite ra lly ju s t a m ouse clic k aw ay.
W hat w ill ex p erts do for you?
T hey can m ake c e rta in th at the
kejl ele m e n t o f in fra stru c tu re ,
c u sto m e r e x p e rie n c e , an d site
d esig n are w ell im plem ented. In
fra stru c tu re is c ritic a l, as m any
w eb r e ta ile r s d is c o v e re d la st
C h ristm as w hen they co u ld not
handle the tra ffic th e ir sites w ere
g en eratin g .
Experts w ill plan for scalability
and tig h t in te g ra tio n into your
a c co u n tin g and fu lfillm e n t sy s
tem s. In co m b in atio n w ith your
co m p a n y ’s talen ts and av ailab le
re so u rc e s, th ey w ill c o n stru c t
your site w ith an eye to the fu
ture.
W hat gets put chased m ost online? Books, music, softw are, airline tickets, clothing, videos, electronics, stocks, sporting
goods, and cars arc the top categories.
Business used to make sense. There used to be rules. If you followed those rules, y ou’d succeed. But today the rules
are gone. They arc in the process of being written, erased and rew ritten, over and over by bold, Innovativ e companies and
individuals who are challenging conventional wisdom in every industry, capturing the im agination of the m arketplace and
finding new ways to create w ealth. It’s the “ Wild. W ild, W est” of opportunity and risk.
C usto m ers w ill leave the site
that keeps them w aiting more than
20 seco n d s and w ill never return
to a site that c a n ’t deliv er w hat
they o rd ered in days rather than
w eeks. C u stom er experience is
c ritic a l. P ro d u c t in fo rm a tio n ,
sim ple and quick steps to pur
ch ase, and availab le custom er
service are all a m ust. Y our site
sh o u ld com pel people to return
b ecau se you have given them
value. A poo rly designed site will
drive people aw ay from your busi
ness. Y our site is your face, and
som etim es yo u r only face, pre
sented to the customer.
Experts can thoroughly explore
y o u r b u sin e ss co m m u n ic a tio n
needs, and based on that research,
define the project, com plete with
technical requirem ents, tim elines,
and budget considerations. Ex
perts w ill focus on brand, content,
trust, reliability, security, privacy,
and know ledge management.
B e fo re y ou ca ll an e x p e rt,
though, you can always do some
research on the web yourself. Some
o f the top sites based on “unique
v isito rs p er m onth” (users are
counted once no m atter how often
they visit) are Yahoo!, Amazon,
Blue M ountain Arts, eBay, GO,
M icrosoft, Lycos, and AOL. They
obviously are doing som ething
right - take a look and see for
yourself.
Internet Usage Projection
fi.:
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•A
B y D avid M atthews
T he In te rn e t p o p u la tio n c o n
tin u es to grow w o rld w id e. At
the c u rre n t p a c e o f g ro w th , the
In te rn e t w ill h av e a p o p u la tio n
g re a te r th a n th a t o f the U nited
S ta te s in the firs t q u a rte r o f
2003.
By 2010, the In te rn e t p o p u la
tio n w o rld w id e w ill be o v e r 1.7
b illio n . T his is b ased on the c u r
rent N ie lse n /N e tR a tin g s figures
w hich in d ic a te th a t the In te rn e t
is g ro w in g at a ra te o f .54% p er
week.
T he ra te o f g ro w th o f the
In te rn e t co u ld be a ffe c te d by
new technology that will make it
cheaper and easier to make Internet
access available w orldw ide.
O ver the next 3 years, new tech
nology is likely to increase the rate
o f grow th o f the Internet. If the
average rate o f growth rises to .64%
per week from the current .54%,
then the population o f the Internet
in 10 years will be over 3 billion
people, or appox. h a lf the world
population.
Statistics for the w eek ending
September 19,1999:
A c tiv e I n te r n e t U n iv e rs e
44,768,130
•Current Internet U niverse Esti
mate 109,992,692
»» » »
•-?«
•/.'. 1
Statistics for the week ending
September 12,1999:
•A ctiv e I n te r n e t U n iv e rs e
47,196,450
■Current Internet U niverse Esti
mate 109,403,300
Internet U niverse One Week
Growth: 598,392 (.54%)
Estim ated Universe in 52 weeks
at current growth rate: 144,761,218
Increase o f 35,357,918 (average
o f 679,959 per week)
Estim ated Universe in 2 years:
191,546,418
E stim ated U niverse in 3 years:
253,452,069
E stim ated Universe in 5 years:
443,751,111
Estim ated Universe in 10 years:
1,799,900.452
V?
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Bis
«
B anking O n A merica “
Jammin’
That’s America to me.
&
<6
hi
Bank of America
Supporting Minority Business Enterprise Week.
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