From: Lisa Dusseault (lisa@xythos.com)
Date: Fri Dec 01 2000 - 09:07:33 PST
This is an interesting article, but...
> The rapid adoption phase of the internet is over.
>
> There are more than 44 million households in the US with internet
> access, out of 105 million. But PC penetration, which is still
> required for "internet access" is only 55 million households.
> Furthermore, the PC penetration in households hasn't risen much.
> Five years ago, the penetration for PCs was 48 million.
>
> In other words, the world left for new adoption of the internet is
> around 12 million households in the US, who for some reason or other,
> haven't adopted it yet. They either have plenty of access at work,
> or they just don't want it.
Although I can't question the numbers, I do question the interpretation.
Just because the rapid adoption phase of "the internet" is over doesn't mean
the rapid adoption phase for online retailing is over. Looking around at
the people I know, it's only those with high-speed connections and years of
familiarity with the internet that purchase stuff online. People like my
mom and dad, who have adopted the internet in that they (mostly he) send
email, don't do online shopping yet.
So these numbers do not justify the implication that online retailing has
little growth potential in new customers.
lisa - who did 80% of her xmas shopping online this year! whoo-hoo!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Dec 01 2000 - 09:24:36 PST