I started using the 'internet' way back in the mid 1980's, although it wasn't commonly called that yet. No, I didn't invent it, haha, but I did experience it through a service called 'Compuserve' where you could visit a single text only 'shopping' site to purchase a few things. It was a long distance phone call and the connection cost per minute. The charges were added to your phone bill, so once my mom got the first $100+ phone bill, I was on restriction! Then, in 1989 I was blessed with the opportunity while in the U.S. Military to help develop a 'message' tracking system for Major General Travis in Heidelberg, Germany. We now call this message tracking system 'Email' and everyone knows what that is. Even though the 'internet' has been around since the 1950's in it's rawest form called 'Arpanet', you could legitimately say that the World Wide Web is still in it's infancy, although it's growing at a phenomenal pace. Here are a few statistics that show that the internet (and more importantly ecommerce) still has a lot of room to grow...
Personal Computers in-use in the U.S. tripled from 1995-2005 to around 1/4 Billion PC's.
PC's per capita reached 80% in 2006 and is projected to reach 98% in 2012.
The number of U.S. Internet users increased by 53% from 2006-2007 to 210 Million!
The number of Internet users worldwide was 2M in 1990, 45M in 1995, 430M in 2000, over 1 Billion in 2005 and is now 1.4 Billion!
Worldwide internet use increases by 140 Million users each year meaning it will hit 2 Billion in a few years!
Ecommerce as a percentage of total retail sales has tripled since 2001 when it represented 1.1%.
Ecommerce in the U.S. increased 13.6% from 1st Quarter 2007 - 1st Quarter 2008 to $33.8 Billion!
That $33.8 Billion in Ecommerce represents only 3.3% of all U.S. Retail Sales leaving plenty of room for growth!
Another interesting fact is that the U.S. is not the country with the most internet users. China surpassed the United States this year with 227 Million Internet users and that represents less than 17% of their population, whereas 75% of the U.S. population uses the internet.
My research findings confirm what I suspected when I claimed that the Internet is in it's infancy. With improved security, faster connections, increasing wireless connectivity, more PC's and other mobile devices accessing the internet and millions more internet users everyday... it's fairly easy to predict that Ecommerce will continue to increase over time.
With gas prices through the roof, it only makes sense to drive less and surf more. If you are offering something for sale and your website is not taking advantage of the technology at hand, please contact us! We have setup dozens of ecommerce solutions and are ready to help you. Furthermore, if you are still driving to town, or even just across town to do your shopping, you should consider utilizing the web more. Nowadays, the only requirement to purchase something online is a debit card, so you don't even have to have a credit card. Even if you don't actually purchase something over the web, like a house or a horse, you can still save time and gas by browsing before you take that drive!
Sources : U.S. Census Bureau, Wikipedia & The Computer Industry Almanac, Inc.
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