Demographic Trends of US Internet Use (Essay Sample)

Demographic Trends of U.S Internet Use
Part I
Technology and E-commerce
Many factors are driving change, but none is more important than the rise of Internet technologies. The Internet, as it continues to develop, has certainly changed the ways people live and work. Indeed, in some industries, such as music and e-commerce, it has completely revolutionized the rules of the game. However, as many may assume, Internet and e-commerce are not ubiquitous. To appreciate the role played by the Internet, one may consider that the earth is flat but the internet will serve as the source of information that will prove this wrong (Sciller, 2014).
Thus, by using gotten from the internet, it will more correct to describe of the world as “spiky,” owing to access to a reliable Internet. At the same time, mass collaboration through file-sharing, blogs, social networking services, is making leaps in creativity possible, as well as changing the way companies in a variety of industries do business.
Online shopping in the U.S
Many Americans have opted for online shopping due to various reasons. Some of those who use this form to shop have cited safety and privacy as the two key factors that have forced them to shop online. For some, they feel online shopping is more convenient than visiting the shop physically. In addition, those who opt for shopping online feel that businesses and government that collect their information are not competent enough to keep this information private. In other words, they do not trust the two institutions with their private information since it can get into wrong hands. Statistics show that in the first quarter of 2014, over 195 million Americans purchased something online. Out of this number, 78 percent of those who shopped online were of the age of 15 years and above (Sciller, 2014).
In the United States, the rate of online shopping has been increasing at 10 percent per year over the last two years. This tremendous growth in the U.S online shopping is attributed to two American online shopping sites; eBay and Amazon. These companies are known all over the world and using the Internet to reach its customers has been of great benefit. Most of the sales made by these companies generally come from mobile gadgets and this business started booming way back in 2009. In 2014, all online stores in the U.S made sales amounting to $259 billion and this figure is projected to hit $279 by the end of 2015. This data was collected from Americans who had purchased their products directly from website stores like Amazon and eBay (Enright, 2015).
Also, the age of those who take part in online purchasing in the U.S varies with time. Statistics show that the younger population aged between 18 and 30 contribute to about 54 percent of all online sales while those aged between 31 and 44 accounts for 68 percent of these sales. Online shopping in the United States has undergone a considerable revolution over the past few years and this growth illustrated by the following information.
Year Web sales Growth 2014$304,91315.40%2013$264,27916.50%2012$226,87814.70%2011$197,88317.20%2010$168,89516.60%2009$144,9082.60%2008$141,2333.80%2007$136,12620.50%2006$112,99424.00%2005$91,08026.00%Source: U.S. Commerce Department
Even though the trend in adoption and implementation of e-commerce tends to fluctuate with time, perhaps the cost of entry will determine the eventual uptake by various product categories, product market mixes and indeed the country itself. This aside, the electronic future of the United States is bright, sustainable, and is here to stay (Enright, 2015).
Part II
Social and legal trends in E-Commerce and Internet usage
The expansion of internet services in the recent past has greatly contributed to the transformation of online business transactions (Melnik & Alm, 2002). Ecommerce is increasingly adopting the use of advanced technological advancement to ensure that online store sites are successful. Statistics show that ecommerce industry is growing at a fast rate compared to any other industry in the world. Therefore, growth in mobile commerce is the most recent exciting trend in ecommerce. Importantly, ecommerce in the U.S and the rest of the world is expected to grow rapidly owing to increased use of tablets and smartphones in business transactions. Use of smartphones and tablets in business has become so popular to an extent of helping the U.S mobile commerce revenue to hit $38 billion dollars. Most of those who use smartphones and tablets in transacting businesses are teenagers who are known for their obsession for social media networking sites such Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. They tend to use these social sites to see adverts and order for products they like. Notably, the growing trend in ecommerce is mainly comprised of travel services, mobile media and content, travel purchases among many other services.
Another growing trend in U.S ecommerce comes in forms of modes of payments used. Today, a large population that has embraced ecommerce is using digital payments that are closely related to ecommerce. The most common methods used in making payments are referred to as online payments or digital wallets. Many people in the U.S are adopting these modes of payment at very fast rate hence making them the most common means of payment in online businesses. The most common means of payment is PayPal, a service provided by eBay. Currently, PayPal is leading in mobile payment volume with more than $14 billion. As noted before, online payments are not convenient in terms of saving the buyer’s time, but also help in accessing digital content such as listening to online music or streaming an online movie. That said, mobile app revenues in the U.S are expected to exceed 30 billion US dollar by the end of 2015.
Another growing trend in the US ecommerce is the orientation of U.S ecommerce strategy. Today, there are three levels of orientation of U.S ecommerce strategy. Firstly, promote the rapid and sustained development of the relative industries by the construction of an e-commerce infrastructure. Secondly, promote enterprises to conduct e-commerce business by the implementation of U.S e-commerce strategy. Lastly, promote global acceptance of U.S technical standards and the legal framework of ecommerce to help U. S businesses open up the global ecommerce market. In other words, the United States can gain sustainable and competitive advantages in the economy, science and technology and ensure its hegemonic status in the world. The U.S e-commerce strategy definitely complies with the national strategy.
The U.S e-commerce strategy was originated and formed in the Clinton administration. One reason for the formation is that Clinton was very success with the economy. During the Clinton administration, the U.S government achieved a financial balance, even a surplus. The other reason is that e-commerce was just in its infancy in the Clinton period. At that time, there was almost no law or policy about e-commerce. In order to ensure smooth development of e-commerce, a number of strategic policies and laws relative to e-commerce were needed. There were no obvious changes in e-commerce after President Bush resumed office in 2000, partly because the government had been busy fighting terrorism (Melnik & Alm, 2002). The other reason was that the related strategy, policy and legal framework had been created in the Clinton period. So it remained to implement the strategy according to the existing problems. There were no other specific policies for e-commerce after President Obama took office in 2009. However, Obama has launched an economic stimulus package with a total amount of $787 billion, which has provided a good macroscopic environment for the development of e-commerce (Pewinternet.org, 2015).
Today, the U.S takes the front rank in the world of e-commerce. Even though the U.S has a strong electronic strength and highly developed information industry, in the development of e-commerce, the government also plays an important role with an e-commerce strategy that promotes the rapid development of e-commerce worldwide.
Part III
Marketing strategies adopted by e-commerce vendors
Whether the business is between an enterprise and a consumer or between an enterprise and another enterprise, the most efficient marketing strategies are on the internet. In the process of using the internet to advertise products and services, e-commerce vendors can reach a vast audience. Statistics show that about 47 million households in North America have an access to the internet and 44% of this number browses the internet regularly (Baker, 2014). Therefore, I would be beneficial for vendors to adopt online adverts in order to reach a bigger population of consumers since a large percentage of their target audience is online.
Credit card machines are also recommended for online vendors. Consumers who want to save time in the process of making purchases would greatly benefit from using bank cards and credit cards while purchasing items from security-backed online retailers (Enright, 2015). Such consumers will prefer shopping online to physically visiting shops to buy what they want. They will also purchase a range of quality products and services online since the internet provides more details about the online products and services.
To succeed in their online ventures, online vendors have to adopt a personalization strategy (The...