BizAims

By 2007, statistical information about the growth of the Internet and E-commerce has become a very large concern and there are thousands of sources.

For the purpose of E-commerce class, we simply want some basic information covering

so we can estimate market size and market segments

so companies can estimate potential for developing a site, or expanding an existing site

3) Canadian / American online shopping comparisons cause

so much of our commerce is effected by the U.S. economy and activities of American companies

4) Internet adoption and E-commerce use in other countries

I) Telephone 38 years to reach 50 million users;

III) Internet 4 years to reach 50 million users

This phrase is widely quoted on the Web from un.org to rcmp-grc.gc.ca, it is difficult to know where it came from, and it is difficult to know if it is the truth exactly - however a rough calculation makes it seem plausible that such a comparison is indeed valid.

Whether it is 50 million exactly, is not critical. What is noteworthy is the fact that it is probably the fastest spread of any "technology" that the world has ever seen, and there are consequences for that. One of the consequences is that companies marketing global products and services must address a whole new "sector" of business and do this very quickly - 'cause if they don't, they will lose out to some other company that scoops them.

Essentially, the "picture" of the Information Age, as accelerated by the Internet, is one where the Competitive Environment is intensified, to a higher degree than before, by the advances in the Technological Environment.

In 2001-2003 when this unit was taught in e-commerce class we used to try to ascertain the total number of Internet Users and how that number was growing.

Why did we need to know the total number of internet users? In terms of running an e-commerce business, knowing the total number of internet users is, by 2006, a useless statistic?

Because, ... knowing the total number of internet users is information that would only be useful to a small number of businesses, like IBM or Microsoft.

This is like telling a guy, who runs the Tim Horton's at Morningside and Sheppard, that there are 5 million Canadians who eat doughnuts regularly. That is nice to know, but useless information.

The possession of information is often considered a critical part of corporate competitiveness. Information itself is not so valuable - what is valuable is the tools to aggregate the information, manipulate it, synthesize it so you can draw conclusions which can assist in decisions.

The guy who runs the Tim Horton's at Morningside and Sheppard needs to know how many people, in the Morningside and Sheppard area eat doughnuts, and what kind.

Counting Internet users in 2006 is like counting people that use a phone.

For most urban areas in Canada, people that want to be "on the web" are on the web; we are close to reaching the saturation point - like cell phones.

By 2005, most every adult and teenager that wanted a cell phone, has one, they are so cheap now that cost is not a barrier.

Same things with PCs - high quality computers with huge hard drives and super fast chips are less than $1,000 - there are many many companies selling PCs and the competitive environment has driven the prices way way down + there are many places at school, libraries, etc. where people can go online for free. There are very few barriers to internet access in OECD countries so most everybody who wants to be online, is online.