Internet Statistics Prove Rosy for E-Commerce

In November 1999, Iconocast author, Jay Stevens, noted he was struck by a remarkable statistic uncovered by a commissioned study conducted by Roper Starch. It was the fact that 52 percent of Americans had moved furniture to accommodate their computer.

He goes on to paraphrase a current 2002 Roper report stating that 84 percent of those polled believed the computer is the most important invention of the 20th century. How did our other modern inventions fare? Not well. The telephone received 9 percent and television garnered a meager 5 percent of the vote.

In the same study, 66 percent said they would prefer a computer connected to the Internet if they were allowed to take only one thing to a lonely desert island. The telephone did better here with a 25 percent weigh-in. Television--well, there is a stalwart 6 percent of the study population that just can't live without their weekly fix of the latest, greatest reality show.

And 76 percent of the participants said they felt the Internet had made their lives better. Not bad for a fad. 60 percent said their most important use of the Internet was for research. E-commerce and communications both gathered 29 percent as their next-use preference.

If only 29 percent of Internet users are logging on to shop, I would say the future is mighty rosy. The following are some recent statistics that should jump start the mental calculator of even the most adamant anti-technology entrepreneur.

We'll start on the personal financial front. As you might expect, the national annual April 15 panic attack was cause for millions to head online.

The folks at Nielson/NetRatings tell us in the week ending April 7, Quicken.com received a whopping 1.74 million visitors. IRS.com came in second at 1.23 million followed by TurboTax at 534,000, HRBlock.com at 338,000 and ShopIntuit.com at 194,000.

February 2002 proved that an e-rose by any other name smells mighty profitable. On-line buying activity annalist, ComScore.com reported "sales of online flowers for the seven days before Valentine's Day totaled $59.3 million." It goes on to say, "The latest week's (Feb. 7-13) online flower sales represented a dramatic--if expected--increase of 460 percent over the average week in 2001."

Other web retailers received significant February traffic boosts--all in the name of love. Jewelry.com received 469,799 unique visitors in the week ending Feb 10 with Ice.com (jewelry retailer) coming in a close second with 431.847.

Ditto for those sites offering online greeting cards. AmericanGreetings.com served up digital love notes to many of its 858,418 shoppers during the week ending Feb.13. Rival BlueMountain.com wasn't exactly singing the blues with its 720,153 visitors.

Lots and lost of Americans showed their Valentine affection with sweets, treats and places to meet. CitySearch.com served its site up to 2.4 million in the week ending Feb. 10. Zagat.com (restaurant surveys and guides) saw 72, 471 visitors surf through its cyber doors, up 153 percent from the average of the previous four weeks. Food.com logged in 36,499 hungry to please sweethearts.

Here is a word to the wise marketer. As steller as the online February Valentines sales were, they were still 11 percent lower that the $67 million for the week leading up to Mother's Day 2001. Does anyone hear the resounding digital cha-ching equivalent coming in the weeks leading to May 12?