The Internet has changed the world in many ways. Instant communications have led to a wealth of information, and have pushed us into an age of information. This explosion of available information has in turn led to consumer awareness and an expanded consumer base. These expansions are perhaps the greatest boons to business since manufacturing became common practice, if businesses choose to utilize them.
The first thing that needs to be understood is who is online. Exact figures are not available for the Internet. There are only estimates as to how many people are online or how many businesses there are. This is because of the structure of the Internet. According to global reach, there are nearly 529 million people online. 1 Businesses are more difficult to count due to the question of what constitutes a business online. The US Census Bureau eliminated the question of how many and instead measured how much money was conducted online versus total retail sales. The Census Bureau started measuring these statistics during the 4th quarter of 1999 and the most recent numbers available are from 3rd quarter 2001. The sum total of sales during this period of time is estimated at 0.9 percent of total US retail sales or, over 54 b
These same advances prove to be a problem for some businesses as well. The enlarged consumer base also means there is larger scale for competition. The increased level of consumer awareness creates a highly volatile environment for rumors that can discredit companies online.
Unfortunately there are cons for consumers as well. Along with all of the information available on the Internet, there is also misinformation. Consumers have to be aware of frauds and scams that have popped up all over the Internet in recent years. Many of these scams are not new, but have been given new life with the advent of mass emailing. Some unscrupulous businesses also put out misleading descriptions of products or send a completely different version of the product than what the customer ordered. Another risk is the possibility of having a hacker get your information and use it to make purchases. New Internet security features have helped reduce the risk, but hackers seem to be on the lookout for a new challenge. New laws have made sure that consumers are not held liable for charges they did not make in the same way that they are protected from credit card theft.
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