How Internet to Change Business World

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How Internet to Change Business World

By Chunfu Chen

November 13, 2000

       The business transformation under way in the world is reshaping people's living style.  Especially, the remarkable advance in computer technology makes prosperity among our societies and promotes a quality of life.  Furthermore, the development of the Internet is motivated by a rapid growth in computer technology.  In fact, the Internet in the prosperous USA has become a necessity of people's life every day after it was widely used in 1995.  Therefore, the Internet will continue to rise and not only promote the quality of life but also bring a lot of profit to companies.

       Since the Internet was born in the 1960s, it has been developed efficiently year by year.  Particularly, Internet use has rapidly grown in recent years.  According to the results of Harris research on October 11, 2000, "Fully 70% of the public now use PCs at home, at work or elsewhere, virtually unchanged from 69% at the end of 1999, but up substantially from 63% in 1998, 54% in 1997, and 50% in 1995.  The proportion of all those who use PCs who are also on-line continue to grow from 18% in 1995, 35% in 1996, 49% in 1997, 60% in 1998, and 81% at the end of 1999 to 84% now" (Taylor).

       In addition, Table 1 and Table 2 indicate that the number of Internet hosts and Web servers rise very fast year by year.  That is, companies invest their money on the Internet continuously because Internet users increase rapidly every year.  As Internet companies provide all information and products, Internet users are able to search data easily and purchase them conveniently.  As a matter of fact, the convenient information in the Internet promotes the quality of life, and shopping from the Internet makes a huge amount for the companies.

Table 1 WWW Growth. Source: cited in Zakon
Date Sites | Date Sites | Date Sites ------ -------- + ------ ---------- + ------ --------- 06/93 130 | 04/97 1,002,512 | 10/98 3,358,969 09/93 204 | 05/97 1,044,163 | 11/98 3,518,158 10/93 228 | 06/97 1,117,255 | 12/98 3,689,227 12/93 623 | 07/97 1,203,096 | 01/99 4,062,280 06/94 2,738 | 08/97 1,269,800 | 02/99 4,301,512 12/94 10,022 | 09/97 1,364,714 | 03/99 4,389,131 06/95 23,500 | 10/97 1,466,906 | 04/99 5,040,663 01/96 100,000 | 11/97 1,553,998 | 05/99 5,414,325 06/96 252,000 | 12/97 1,681,868 | 06/99 6,177,453 07/96 299,403 | 01/98 1,834,710 | 07/99 6,598,697 08/96 342,081 | 02/98 1,920,933 | 08/99 7,078,194 09/96 397,281 | 03/98 2,084,473 | 09/99 7,370,929 10/96 462,047 | 04/98 2,215,195 | 10/99 8,115,828 11/96 525,906 | 05/98 2,308,502 | 11/99 8,844,573 12/96 603,367 | 06/98 2,410,067 | 12/99 9,560,866 01/97 646,162 | 07/98 2,594,622 | 01/00 9,950,491 02/97 739,688 | 08/98 2,807,588 | 02/00 11,161,811 03/97 883,149 | 09/98 3,156,324 | 03/00 13,106,190 | 04/00 14,322,950 | 05/00 15,049,382 | 06/00 17,119,262 | 07/00 18,169,498 | 08/00 19,823,296 | 09/00 21,166,912
Sites = # of web servers (one host may have multiple sites by using different domains or port numbers)
Table 2 Internet growth. Source: cited in Zakon
Date Hosts | Date Hosts | Date Hosts ------ ---------- + ------ --------- + ------ -------- 01/95 5,846,000 | 01/97 21,819,000 | 01/99 43,230,000 07/95 8,200,000 | 07/97 26,053,000 | 07/99 56,218,000 01/96 14,352,000 | 01/98 29,670,000 | 01/00 72,398,092 07/96 16,729,000 | 07/98 36,739,000 | 07/00 93,047,785
Hosts = a computer system with registered IP address.

       The Internet comes into our life deeply. Reuters describes that the Internet will be everywhere--in planes, taxis, and schools, and people will take it on their holidays with them using mobile wireless devices.  In fact, people can save much time on what they do by using the Internet.  For example, "The WAP (the Wireless Application Protocol) forum predicts that as many as 525 million WAP enabled handsets will be sold in the United States and Europe by the year 2003.  And that's not taking into account the world's biggest market - China. Or India, Indonesia, Mexico - think of any place in the world with a big population and limited landlines.  Internet mobiles are the boom technology of tomorrow.  Why will so many people use them?  Stock market alarms - your phone can tell you automatically when a key stock goes below a certain level.  Travel and leisure - when you're stuck in a strange city, ask your phone what's on, where to eat, and get it to phone for a taxi to the restaurant after you've read the online review.  Shopping - buy the week's groceries while you're stuck in traffic (though if you'd used the online weather and information services, you might not have got stuck in the first place)" (Starling).  As a result of convenient information in the Internet, the Internet promotes the quality of people's life very much. Of course, it also creates a lot of profit for companies.

       Advertising on the Internet would be efficient, optional, and diverse.  Furthermore, advertising motivation and convenient Internet use will increase purchasing.  According to the result of ActMedia research, "Our recent survey indicated, however, that in practical use, Web businesses are opting for specific promotional methods over others.  This study identifies tried and proven methods of online promotion that when combined with offline techniques, drive the greatest traffic which leads to the greatest number of sales." (ActivMedia Research).  Moreover, Internet marketing creates tremendous revenues in all kinds of businesses.  For example, "Most Business-to-Business online sites are thriving, doubling and tripling revenues each year.  Sites that have been online longest have benefited most from the rapid shift in business practices" (ActivMedia).  Another example, "Internet users around the world are expected to almost double to 540 million in two years, and the amount they spend online is set to quadruple to almost a trillion dollars" (Reuters).  Furthermore, Reuters describes that the company, which has portals in about 30 countries, makes about 80 percent of revenues from advertising with the rest split evenly between transactions and services such as online broadcasting of corporate video presentations.

       In addition, Internet marketing still continues to rise and attract more businesses.  According to the result of ActivMedia research, "ActivMedia estimates that online retail sales are a healthy $53 billion of today's $3.1 trillion retail industry in the U.S. While online sales are just 1.7% of total retail sales in the U.S., vendors are reporting triple digit growth rates as the cyber-economy expands globally" ( ActivMedia Research).

       In short, the Internet is growing rapidly today, and it will continue to change our environment and our life.  Since the Internet was widely used in 1995, it has become a part of our life and a competitive site in marketing.  In fact, there are over 80% of American adults who use the Internet at home, at work, and at elsewhere.  Furthermore, the business revenues from the Internet double growth every year.  Therefore, for so many consumers and benefits, Internet marketing will be a real business everywhere in the world.