Ecommerce
Now that the
holidays are over, we can regroup, tabulate those bills, and if
you're in the Internet business, you can count your
profits!
During the 1998
holiday season, online purchases exceeded estimates and the value of
Internet stocks, such as AOL and Amazon.com, rose. According to
MediaMetrix Inc., visits to Web stores rose 80% in the second week of
December. Eddie Bauer also reported record online numbers and an
increase in first-time Internet shoppers.
As to whether this
increase means that shopping at traditional stores has decreased,
it's hard to know, as many retailers do not distinguish between
virtual and online stores' sales.
Jupiter
Communications has reported that 44% of U.S. households shopped
online over the months of November and December 1998 spending about
$3.14 billion. In addition, the survey found that 37%, of those
surveyed said they would spend more next year.
If you've been
slow to get into the Internet arena, don't worry, there's still
plenty of profit to be made in online retailing. According to the
Direct Marketing Association of New York, online sales account for
only a small portion of total retail sales. While online sales are
expected to more than double, catalogue sales are estimated to reach
$87 billion and overall retail sales should be approximately $2.6
trillion. So, it's still not too late!
At this point, if
you have not already found a solution to your eCommece needs and for
that of your customers, you should consider checking out
authorizenet.com.
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