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THE
LIST
Why You Need a Web Site
Americans research products on the Internet, then go to a store
to buy.
It’s not too surprising that the No. 1 daily use of the Internet
is to send or read e-mail. It is the boon and bane of daily business
work. According to a survey conduct by Pew Research and American
Life between March 2000 and December 2002, 54 million Americans’ daily
Internet activity includes e-mail.
What’s more surprising is how fast some other activities have increased.
Buying a product online, for example, doubled during the same time period from
3 million to 6 million people on a typical day. Other daily activities that doubled
were banking online (from 4 million to 8 million), downloading music files to
a computer (from 3 million to 6 million), looking for information from a government
site (from 6 million to 12 million), and checking sports scores or info (from
7 million to 14 million)—although each of these ranked either in the bottom
half of the top 10 or below in total number of Internet users.
For retailers, it is interesting to note that “Research a product or service” came
in at No. 5 with 21 million Americans active in this area every day—a 20
percent increase since March 2000—although when it comes to actually buying
online that’s a daily activity for only 6 million Americans (a tie with
downloading music files). These number lend credence to the idea that customers
first research a product online, then go to the store that interests them most
to make the purchase.
Top 10 DAILY ONLINE
PURSUITS
Internet users who do these activities on a typical
day (2002).
1. Send or read e-mail 54 million
2. Get news 29 million
3. Surf the Web for fun 26 million
4. Research for your job 22 million
Look for info on hobby or interest
Search for answer to a question
5. Research a product or service 21 million
6. Look for political news or info 15 million
7. Check sports scores or info 14 million
8. Send an instant message 13 million
9. Look for info from a government site 12 million
Research for school or training
Get financial info
10. Bank online 8 million
Play a game
Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project Survey |
