Essential Guide to Telecommunications, The, Third Edition

Electronic Commerce and Advertising on the Web

The World Wide Web is an important element in commerce, entertainment, advertising and marketing. However, it is still in its infancy. In 2000, the dollar volume of retail products and services sold via the Internet was about 1.7% of total retail sales. This is up from 1.1% in 1999. In addition, the number of online residential users is growing. In the United States, 16 million users—58% of the population—accessed the Internet in April 2001 compared to only 6.8 million in April 2000. Email and Web surfing are the main reasons people use the Web. Web surfing influences purchase decisions. The article, “More People Went Online to Talk and Send Greetings Than Shop,” published in The New York Times On ...