Two new surveys have come my way in the last few days. One showed that less than 25% of all businesses offer their products and services for sale via the Internet. The other survey suggested that 71% of people buy goods and services online. Indeed, by 2010 in the UK alone some 39 billion pounds is expected to be spent online by British shoppers. People who want to buy are looking to the Internet first, yet the suppliers of those things they want to purchase appear reluctant to move over to the new marketplace. What this means in the short term, is that any business that does not gear itself up to selling online pretty quick, will not be in business much longer. Would you set up shop in a ghost town? By ignoring the Internet or not using it to its full marketing potential, that’s what most businesses appear to be doing. Those who are already selling online will clearly take advantage of the desire people have for online shopping. Businesses cannot any longer ignore e-commerce or e-business.
The people will rule the Internet
One of the difficulties that governments face is that the global nature of the Internet makes their job more difficult. Even in relatively open societies like the USA and the UK, it’s possible for governments
