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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
15. The Internet and
Interactive Media
any other medium. A number of reasons have been offered to explain this rapid adoption.
A long period of economic prosperity, Internet innovation, heavy investments by
companies, and (as noted in the previous chapter) changing lifestyles of the American
consumer (consumers are now “money rich and time poor”) have all contributed.
The demographic profile of Internet users has changed as well. Whereas in 1996,
the Web was clearly a male-dominated medium (82 percent male versus 18 percent
female), Internet users are now much more consistent with the profile of the overall
U.S. population (Figure 15-5), although persons with more education and more
income tend to be online slightly more than others. The use of the Internet for shopping,
searching for information about products and services, and buying is predicted to
continue to show growth, as indicated in Figure 15-6. Whether the increase in Internet
usage and e-commerce will slow or continue to grow at its current pace, it will account
for a substantial amount of consumer spending, as can be seen in Figure 15-6.
Users: Business to Business The consumer market figures may seem astronomical
enough, but they pale in comparison to the figures on business-to-business
marketing. While some consumer companies feel that a website is not a critical component
of their communications mix, most business marketers consider a good site a
necessity. The number of businesses online is expected to rise to 8.3 million by 2004,
with over 100 million business-to-business decision makers online. 3 The revenue
generated by these business sites is much higher than that generated in the consumer
market—with projections of $6.2 trillion by the year 2004 (yes, that is a t!). 4 Businesses
in the computer and electronics, shipping and warehousing, and utilities
industries expect that by 2004 they will conduct over 70 percent of their transactions
over the Internet. (So-called heavy industries like aerospace and defense are expected
to transact less than 50 percent through this medium.)
Adults All
Online Adults
Age:
18–29 28% 22
30–39 23 22
40–49 23 20
50–64 24 18
65+
Gender:
5 16
Men 49 48
Women
Race/Ethnicity:
51 52
White 76 76
Black 12 12
Hispanic
Education:
9 10
High school or less 37 52
Some college 31 26
College grad/post grad
Household Income:
32 22
$25,000 or less 18 25
$25,001–$50,000 25 29
$50,001 and over 46 32
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Figure 15-5 Profile of U.S.
online population,
February–March 2002
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Chapter Fifteen The Internet and Interactive Media