None of us are happy about the high gas prices.  In fact, it has probably caused a tremendous hardship on those who depend on the fossil fuels to operate their businesses.  Some businesses have even had to close their doors due to the outrageous increases in operating expenses.  Fortunately, there is a thing called the World Wide Web and we are finding ways to take better advantage of this resource.  Since we are in the business of building the World Wide Web, we feel it is our duty to help our clients understand how to use the internet more effectively.  We will be passing along tips whenever we find them, so be sure to read each of our newsletters.  First, let's take a look at the somewhat surprising internet usage statistics for both the United States and around the world...

I started using the 'internet' way back in the mid 1980's, although it wasn't commonly called that yet.  No, I didn't invent it, haha, but I did experience it first through a service called 'Compuserve' where you could visit a single text only 'shopping' site.  The connection cost per minute and was added to your phone bill, so once my mom got the first $100+ phone bill, I was on restriction!  Then, in 1989 I was blessed with the opportunity while in the U.S. Military to help develop a 'message' tracking system for Major General Travis in Heidelberg, Germany.  We now call this message tracking system 'Email' and everyone knows what that is.  Even though the 'internet' has been around since the 1950's in it's rawest form called 'Arpanet', you could legitimately say that the World Wide Web is still in it's infancy, although it's growing at a phenomenal pace.  Here are a few statistics that show that the internet (and more importantly ecommerce) still has a lot of room to grow...

Another interesting fact is that the U.S. is not the country with the most internet users.  China surpassed the United States this year with 227 Million Internet users which represents less than 17% of their population, whereas 75% of the U.S. population uses the internet.  I was surprised by the list of countries and the number of internet users that I found on the Wikipedia site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users.

My research findings confirm what I suspected when I claimed that the Internet is in it's infancy.  With improved security, faster connections, increasing wireless connectivity, more PC's and other mobile devices accessing the internet and millions more internet users everyday... it's fairly easy to predict that Ecommerce will continue to increase over time.

With gas prices through the roof, it only makes sense to drive less and surf more.  If you are offering something for sale and your website is not taking advantage of the technology at hand, please contact us!  We have setup dozens of ecommerce solutions and are ready to help you.  Furthermore, if you are still driving to town, or even just across town to do your shopping, you should consider utilizing the web more.  Nowadays, the only requirement to purchase something online is a debit card, so you don't even have to have a credit card.  Even if you don't actually purchase something over the web, like a house or a horse, you can still save time and gas by browsing before you take that drive!