Internet Shopping - It's About Time

Article submitted by by Mark B. Schwartz.
For more information, he can be reached at 800-777-9459, or by e-mail: service@Delivered2U.biz.

In 1993 there were only 5 computers connected on the Internet; by 1999 more than 200 million PCs were connected - and the numbers continue to climb daily. To put this in perspective, it took radio 38 years and television 13 years to reach 50 million North American users. The Internet reached 50 million people in 5 years - and is growing five times faster than television and ten times faster than radio. At this rate, 64% of us will have Internet access by 2005, and 79% of us will be on-line by 2010. In short, these are numbers too large for business to ignore. The Internet is changing the wholesale/retail landscape daily.

Probably the most impressive fact is that our Internet connections are becoming mobile to match our already very mobile society -- giving Internet shopping a decided advantage over fixed location stores. According to the world renowned futurist, Frank Feather (in his best seller Future Consumer.com), before this decade is out, the "webolution" will all be voice-activated (i.e. no more typing or even using a browser) because all applications and access appliances will be "web-aware". One needs to look no further than the all-pervasive cell phone or PDA you are probably carrying to understand this trend -- with most of the newest ones regularly connected to the Internet (and by 2003 there will be an estimated one billion cell phones with at least half operating as permanently on-line WebPhones). Following the technology out to the end of the decade, we will no longer be a couple of hundreds of millions people typing at each other and drilling for information buried in a billion unique documents. Instead, we will be two billion people and 200 trillion chip-embedded objects all talking and shopping with each other in a collective multimedia interaction and flow - talking to and ordering from our information-intensive computers in our cars, or with our on-line 'smart' refrigerators, or simply from our web-based easy chairs. Think about it. We will be able to talk and walk, listen and watch, compute and surf, shop and order on-line - and chew gum - all at the same time! Stated simply, we are closer to the Jetsons than to the Flinstones and getting closer everyday.

Now compare and contrast that to the thousands of retail establishments and malls and downtown shopping districts that you have personally watched vanish in most cities and towns across America - with the icon Montgomery Wards being only the latest in a long list of those who are already gone (and soon to follow). Oh sure, many of the initial dot.coms became dot.bombs at the end of the last century, but that was more of a sorting out process common with the introduction of any new technology than an indicator of the acceptance of this clear alternative to 'brick and mortar' shopping. Am I suggesting the end of the malls? No - that is not my point. I am simply giving hope to the millions that hate to shop, or who don't like parking what seems like miles from the stores only to get rained on or have car doors dinged; or who don't want to deal with the hordes of frantic last-minute shoppers that have forgotten the reason for the upcoming season, etc. To many, it's about time that there is finally a viable alternative... one that's here to stay.

And speaking of time, it is an ancient truth that time is also money. We only have 1,440 minutes a day to do what I call 'click and pick'... and the web-based companies that will thrive know that, too. So to succeed, Internet shopping had to not only offer an alternative to the "I hate to shop" crowd, or the midnight shoppers, etc., they also needed to entice the masses (although I am sure that some would contend that the masses are the I hate to shop crowd). They had the obvious advantage of saving lots of commuting time and checkout time for shoppers, and to that advantage, many sites also began offering discounts for buying on the web rather than buying in even their own traditional storefront establishments. But for many the biggest draw is in the time intensive comparison shopping game. Instead of wearing out shoe leather or even letting your fingers doing the walking, nothing compares to letting your mouse traverse the mall maze - bringing up prices at various stores in seconds so that the buyer can benefit from instant, thorough comparison shopping, something retail establishments could never hope to offer. That is why, according to P.M. Abernathy, Publisher, Harvard Business Review, the Internet and e-commerce are not only "here to stay... (they) will accelerate the shift of power toward the consumer... (and they) will alter the basis of competition in retailing."

So, who are these businesses and what are they doing to entice us to choose them? First, there are two types of Internet stores - so called 'click and mortar' stores and 'pure play' stores. Click and mortar stores are the traditional storefronts that have both a physical presence in society and have added web buying as a service to their already established customers. To many, this is akin to an extension of the decades-old buying from large department store's catalogs and 800#s (a standard on most coffee tables throughout the civilized world). That is, we now see plastered on all of their trucks, in-store billboards, Sunday newspaper advertisements, etc. the suggestion to buy from their store physically, and/or also check out their stores' world wide web (www) site, such as www.storename.com (or now also with a .biz suffix). 'Pure play' stores, on the other hand, have no such physical presence and were born when the web began to grow in popularity (and some would argue, even helped to fuel that growth as much as the interest in e-mailing friends and family did). These are known as 'virtual stores' with large warehouse(s) where the public does not go, but instead act as shipping and receiving sites to other businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C) - not unlike some large catalogs with similar setups (e.g. Spiegel).

In the beginning, the prevailing thoughts were the 'click and mortar' sites were safe, but very static and uninteresting, and the 'pure play' "virtual stores" had great appeal, but security concerns were sometimes expressed. Advances in multi-media software and broadband technology are adding sizzle to the formerly drab, on-line experience... with virtual shopping making our future time on-line even more appealing to the average consumer. Also, time and effort and companies willing to back up their promises have also blurred this early distinction. The Altura Network reported that thanks to Federal laws and their merchants' guarantees, there are over thirty on-line malls that can now boast that there has never been a single case of unauthorized charges made to a credit card as a result of shopping with them, with hundreds of thousands of transactions handled since 1997. It should be noted that safety is not a one-sided issue. Security is also an issue for the stores, with more and more of these sites requiring a site visitor to type in a password (or in the future speak in a password) identifying the 'guest' as a valued member or preferred patron (e.g. State Farm Insurance).

The expression goes, "let the buyer beware"... that is, be prudent, but not paralyzed, when it comes to on-line purchases. Companies have recognized the need to provide quality products, excellent value and world-class service and safety on-line - and the survivors from the initial shakeout have risen to meet that challenge, and millions more will learn from those early mistakes... and we will rise from these ashes, as well. This, after all, is what makes America great - and our tenacity and innovativeness on the Internet will be the next great example to the world of our know-how and strength.

Finally, more and more web-stores and web-malls are adding personalized interfaces to compete with the experience of the often difficult to find store clerk. Quite frankly, the web-stores are doing it better. Some use software to recognize that you are a return visitor and make you feel welcome and/or reward return frequency. Some sites offer on-line, real-time help with either real people helping you along the way, or in some cases with highly sophisticated 'bots' to answer your frequently asked questions (FAQs). Some of the most impressive sites have networked or linked with small business owners to provide the personalized, high touch (similar to the old-fashioned corner store of the past) with a high tech panacea backing them up - providing not only a better option for now, but simply the best choice for the foreseeable future.

Mr. Feather is predicting four companies in particular to dominate Internet shopping by 2010 -- Wal-Mart, AOL-Time Warner, Amazon.com and Quixtar.com. His next favorites list includes such luminary companies as Dell, Microsoft, Home Depot, GE, Disney, and dozens of others. According to InternetWeek (October 29, 2001) on-line holiday sales alone will top $10 billion, up more than 40% from last year. Only time will tell how big Internet shopping will become and who ends up at the top of the heap. However, no one can or would argue that the Internet and Internet shopping will continue to change our way of life... and to many of us, it is not only welcome, it is exciting to watch, enjoy, and 'click and pick'.

Mark B. Schwartz is the owner of www.Delivered2U.biz (a 100% satisfaction guarantee, safe, 500+ stores/ one million + products and services web-based mall portal), an active member of the Colorado Springs Senior Resource Council, VP of Southern Colorado's Senior Blue Book, and active with Easter Seals Southern Colorado. He can be reached via e-mail at service@Delivered2U.biz or at 800-777-9459 for general comments or to obtain a password to his site.

Editor's Note: This article appeared in inBIZ - The Business Informant December 2001, Volume 5, Issue 1, pg 15-16 in their special section dedicated to Shopping. The Business Informant 2812 W. Colorado Ave, Ste. 201, Colo. Springs, CO 80904 (719) 575-0096, email: InformatInfo@aol.com, Editor: Wendy Burt, Publisher: Josselynne R. Bippus, an InfoSource Publications,Inc. (monthly business newspaper)