Читать книгу Marketing in the New Media - Holly Berkley - Страница 21

So what are all of these millions of people doing online? According to a February to April 2006 Pew/Internet survey (representing 143 million Americans), users are spending 91 percent of their online time reading and sending emails, followed by using search engines or map sites. Seventy-nine percent of users are looking up health and medical information, followed by 78 percent of people researching products, services, weather, hobby information, or travel information. Sixty-eight percent of users are getting news online (Madden, April 2006).

Shopping is another primary activity for Internet users, whether directly purchasing a product over the Internet or researching a product before they buy offline. A study from Shop.org, conducted by Forrester Research, projects that online sales will exceed $200 billion in 2006 (eMarketer, May 2006d). Internet marketing and well-designed websites allow retailers to consistently find more than one-third of their new customers. Most often, online consumers are purchasing travel-related items, including airline tickets, vacation packages, and hotel accommodation. The next largest industry categories of online sales include computer hardware and software, automobiles, clothing, and footwear. Pet supplies, cosmetics, and fragrances are expected to see growth rates of 30 percent in 2006, exceeding any other categories. (We’ll take a look at the best ways to market to consumers in each of these industry categories, as well as others, in Chapter 6.)