E-Commerce Commission Press Kit

CHAPTER SIX:CONSUMERS IN THE DIGITAL AGEBusinesses invest in information technology and electronic commerce to increase productivity, cutcosts and enhance customer service. Consumers shop on the Internet because they find theirchoices dramatically increased. They have access to much more information when makingpurchasing decisions. Busy consumers can save time and find shopping more convenient asmerchants serve their needs individually. Better information and greater selection, combined withlower operating costs for many Internet business may, in turn, drive reductions in prices orimprovements in quality.CHOICEThe sheer number of stores that can be “visited” online far exceeds even the most denselypopulated retail areas in the country. No longer do customers find their shopping limited to thestores within a reasonable driving or walking distance or to the catalogues they receive in themail. Online, customers can shop at stores in other states, in other countries, and at stores that donot exist in traditional formats.News and newspapers provide a vivid example. Residents of large cities already benefit by beingable to buy a number of different national and regional newspapers from coin-operated machinesand specialty news outlets. Outside large cities, however, the selection is much more limited.Online, readers can access news from thousands of newspapers around the world. An onlinereader interested in news about the 1998 winter Olympics in Nagano can access coverage inJapan’s Asahi Shimbun as well as turning to coverage in the American media.The vast selection is not limited to products and services that can be delivered digitally. Web sitesselling consumer electronics, gardening supplies, office supplies and other hard goods also offerlarger selections than do their counterparts in traditional retail.The largest chain bookstores carry about 150,000 different books. On the Web, readers canchoose from 2.5 million titles under one roof, covering both in-print and out-of-print books. Inaddition to general purpose bookstores, specialty stores carry books on antiques, books written inforeign languages, rare editions, and other books that would require extensive phone calls andphysical trips to obtain. On the Web, readers can enter the keywords identifying the types ofbooks they want, choose some promising sites, search their inventories, and often have the bookdelivered within a few days or a week.41