Over 50% of households accessing the 'Net from home? Old news (latest # is 55%, for those of you scoring at home). Here's your new shocking broadband factoid, courtesy of Nielsen/Net Ratings:
69% of all online retail purchases were conducted via broadband connection in November.
Your worries about alienating broadband customers should be fading away by now. It's time to take Woodward and Bernstein's advice during Watergate and follow the money:
- Broadband customers spend more than narrowband shoppers ($158 v. $117)
- They're more easily converted (26% v. 21%)
- They visit more often (18% v. 14%)
- They linger in the store longer (22 hrs. v. 18 hrs.)
We've spent ten years optimizing the shopping experience for dial-up users. The fundamental need to have a clear, well-designed process won't change (that's a fundamental of retailing), but we now have the ability to add so much more: branded experiences to enhance and differentiate, personal 1:1 interactions like chat, blogs, and comments to customize and convert.
The best analogy here is grocery stores. Like that industry, we've spent years (decades in Internet time) refining the basic supermarket concept, which was a dramatic shift in its day. With broadband's adoption, we can now offer so much more, like a Whole Foods, Dean & Deluca, or a Central Market.
If we build it, they will come. If we don't, someone else will build it... and we'll miss out.
Forgot the Household penetration. Most people are slacking off at work as the data shows broadband surfing across a wide range of consumers and B2B sites is actually 75% - 80%.
Posted by: S Murray | February 09, 2005 at 03:32 PM