Read thru the following and then take the wrap up quiz.
Organizations need to know the characteristics of internet users so that
they can determine whether or not their target market
Organizations need
to know the characteristics of internet users so that they can determine
whether or not their target markets are in the online community.To help determine this, marketers typically
look at the consumer demographics (age, gender, income levels, education
levels, etc), geographic area of residence (region, urban, rural, international, etc.), user psychographics (activities,
interests, and opinions) and online behaviors such as what attracts users to
particular web sites, how they find the sites, and how long they stay at a
site.Marketers use these four bases
(demographics, geographics, psychographics, and
behaviors) to segment the market.That
is, those internet consumers with similar characteristics become the potential
target markets to attract in your marketing program.Keep in mind that not all internet users are
individuals; some represent businesses, and there are some other ways to
segment the business internet users.Business-to-business (B2B) markets generate nearly 70 percent of all
online transaction dollars.In this
module, we will examine the Business to Consumer (B2C) market place.
Profile of the Internet Consumer
There are many
sources that collect and compile information about the internet user.Many of these sources are listed in the Additional Web sites section of this
module.But just to get started, let's
take a look at the typical internet consumer using the four bases of market
segmentation:
1)Demographic Segments
In the early years
of the internet, the typical user was a young male, college educated, and was
from a higher income category.Except
for gender, this profile characterized the internet innovator category of the
market.As the Net population increases,
the typical internet user is beginning to look more mainstream.In Peter Clemente's
book, Consumer Online Commerce
(1998), here is what the internet consumer looks like today:
Demographics
1994 Internet Users
1997 Internet Users
All U.S.
Adults
Total Adults
3.5 mill
36.3 mill
Age:
18-29
42%
30%
22%
30-49
45%
54%
42%
50 and over
13%
16%
36%
Gender:
Male
78%
61%
48%
Female
22%
39%
52%
Household Income:
Average income
$66,300
$51,900
$44,900
Median income
$64,000
$44,200
$34,000
Education:
College graduate
51%
42%
21%
Not a college graduate
49%
58%
79%
More recent data on
the U.S. internet user can be found at
www.commerce.net and www.cyberdialogue.com/isg. For
more sites review some of the links located in the Additional Sources section
of this module.
2)Geographic Segments
The internet offers
a "world of potential customers" so it is important that
organizations know where their customers are located. The location of the
customer is very important in developing a distribution strategy (i.e., getting
the product to the consumer in a timely manner).Knowing where the customer is located will
enable companies to targetspecific cities, regions, states, or countries with their product
offerings.If an international customer
(sayAustralia) orders your product which is distributed
only in Idaho, then you must decide whether it is
worthwhile to ship the product to Australia considering the price and packaging costs it
will take to get the product there.
This next table
lists the top 18 wired countries [number of computer systems (hosts)] other
than the U.S., and the number of computer users on the Internet.This information is compiled by Net Wizards
(www.nw.com).Another good source for
information about international internet users is the NUA Internet surveys (www.nua.ie).
