Shoppers on the Internet: Today's E-commerce

in the US and also increasingly here in the Philippines, when a person needs to buy something or compare the prices of goods, he or she checks them up on the internet's e-commerce sites. For instance one of my most favorite sites: E-bay. it's too easy: you look for the desired object to buy and bid for it, if you win the bid, the object or product is shipped to you. shipping costs are either yours or the seller's, depends on agreement.
The variety of goods one can purchase in e-bay is tremendous. All sorts like collectibles, old magazines, review materials, car parts, pets, airline tickets, movie tickets and much much more.

E-commerce is one of the most important aspects of the internet ever. It enables people to exchange goods and services immediately and with no barriers of time or distance. Any time of the day or night, you can go online and buy almost anything you want! beat that.


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When people surf for a product or service they are increasingly doing research or completing purchases on the Web. According to Nielsen/CommerceNet here are the top products people are shopping for online, but not necessarily buying online.

Item
Shoppers in Millions

Cars and car parts 18.2

Books 12.6

Computers 12.4

Clothing 11.6

CDs and Videos 11.4

Web Site Journal, Copyright 1999 by Netscape


Nearly one out of every three (31 percent) Internet users are making online purchases, and they are sticking to familiar, inexpensive items, according to a study by CDB Research & Consulting Inc. Items such as books (purchased by 33 percent of respondents), CDs (26 percent), and small gifts (20 percent) remain the most popular online purchases, CDB found. The study also found that certain big ticket items, such as airline tickets and computer hardware, are being accepted by online consumers. Airline tickets were purchased online by 21 percent of the survey respondents , and 13 percent purchased computer hardware online. "When it comes to ecommerce, consumers clearly prefer well-defined items, those with which they are already familiar," said Ann Middleman, vice president of CDB. "Online shoppers tend to stick to known quantities. A John Grisham book is a John Grisham book and a ticket to Chicago is a ticket to Chicago."
Cyberatlas (99.08.11)

Consumers spent $7 billion online during the holiday season, according to the research firm that conducted the survey, Jupiter Communications Inc. (http://www.jup.com). Only 4% of survey respondents said they would decrease their online spending in 2000 based on their holiday shopping experience. Consumer dissatisfaction with online shopping stemmed from inventory shortfalls, high shipping and handling costs and slow site performance, the same problems cited last year. Still, 35% said the experience would encourage them to buy more than they had
previously anticipated, according to Jupiter.

(from http://www.mgmtguru.com/ECommerc.htm)