Traditionally, consumers conducted around 90% of their business within a 10-mile radius of their homes. Today however, advancing communication technologies and the rapid growth of the Internet are changing the nations shopping habits, we have entered the age of the Internet and it will affect us all !

Over the last several years, the promise of the Internet has been much over-hyped and “Internet Retail” likened to teenagers and sex, “they are all talking about it and even some are doing it, but very few of them are doing it well”. Whilst unable to comment on teenagers, the promise of the Net has finally arrived and over the next 6 months the growing number users and technological developments will be electrifying. Today, we have home banking, tele-shopping and an impending limitless choice of interactive entertainment. Tomorrow, we will have facial recognition systems capable of scanning faces and comparing them to as many as 50 million others discovering a match within seconds. We have observed the proliferation of computer systems into every aspects of our lives & business and with the development of the Net, our dreams and fears are becoming a reality. We have witnessed networking interactions amongst machines, and soon we will be able to connect every device in our homes to the Net facilitating "auto-shopping" (commodities automatically replenished by suppliers as stocks fall below specified levels) and “fault diagnosis and maintenance” for household appliances (many cars already have such mechanisms but without the telecommunications element).

Of the 180 million worldwide Internet users, 11 million are in the UK, the fastest growing online country in the world, with over 11,000 new Net users every day. Such dynamic growth has largely arisen due to the emergence of the free Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and today over 30% of UK adults now have Internet access with forecasts predicting an increase to 49% by the end of the year. During 1998, the UK bought goods and services over the Net worth £230 million, and over the next 5 years forecasts show the UK will purchase over £15 billion of goods & services over the Internet, that’s an awful lot of business migrating from traditional outlets to the Net .

You can see it happening now, simply look at the web sites of the likes of Argos and Dixon's. It is now possible to browse the Argos catalogue online, place your order, and for a nominal delivery charge have goods delivered to your door within 2 working days. Look further, remember those Photo-Me booths where you’d get your passport photos, 4,300 of them are currently being converted into Internet terminals. Similarly, BT is installing 1000 Internet kiosks at UK airports, shopping centers, rail stations and motorway service stations.

The good news is that the Net benefits are there for all, ranging from the local takeaway or pet shop whose details are available to Internet users in the local community, to the specialist supplier, whose presence is made accessible to the larger worldwide community. A well-designed web site can help even the smallest venture to find a larger market and the Net is the perfect “leveler”, your Net presence is just as accessible as those of the giants like Microsoft and Tesco.

The situation today is that your customers and more importantly, your potential customers now regularly use the Internet and either gathering pre-purchase information or making online purchases. The time has arrived to establish your presence on the Net, for if your customers don’t find your company details, they’re almost certain to find your competitors ! Small firms are increasingly experimenting with the Net, some investing in basic dial-up accounts enabling them to send & receive email and access the Net as a source of business intelligence. Others are taking it a stage further by posting company information or electronic brochures on a basic web site, whilst some go all the way, hosting transactional sites taking orders online.

If your customers can't find you on www.SouthTyne.co.uk
they'll probably find your competitors

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