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You may never actually buy anything directly from the Internet. But, you can go shopping armed with reams of information, which makes you a much smarter buyer. As I write this, at least 60 percent of Americans have access to the Internet. The number of people signing onto the Internet for the first time is increasing by the hour. The general public’s acceptance of the personal computer in the 1980s opened the door for the Internet to become the biggest communication and marketing tool ever in the history of the world so far and for the foreseeable future. Extensive marketing of the World Wide Web has made just about everyone in the world aware of its existence. Even small, remote villages in the most desolate places on earth are getting linked into the Internet. In spite of all of the incredible exposure the Internet has received during the past several years, I am still often asked, “Does anything exist on the Internet that is worthwhile, or is it all just a bunch of hype?” This question has become more common in the wake of the relatively recent failure of the many dot-com companies. If you are one of those people, like me, who use the Internet constantly, on a daily basis, you know that there are endless amounts of resources at your disposal on the Web. By the same token, there is also a great deal of clutter—to put it nicely.
One reason for there being so much good, and bad, on the Internet is because it is so inexpensive to create a presence by obtaining a domain name, creating some Web pages, and placing those pages, or, uploading them, onto the Internet. Anyone can now have his own personal Web site. Many companies consider having a Web presence to be as necessary as having business cards. You can start a Web page on any subject; in fact, just about anything thousands of times.
BRICK-AND-MORTAR STILL NOT OBSOLETE
In the mid-1990s, as the Internet was just beginning to become popular, I remember the marketing message to business owners very clearly: If you own a business and you are not doing business on the Internet by the year 2000, chances are you will not still be in business. Of course, that turned out to be untrue. But at the time it seemed like it would be a real possibility and businesses flocked to the Internet in order to ensure they would not be outdone by their competition. As we also now know, many companies thought they could run businesses completely on the Internet without a traditional “brick-and mortar” presence. With very few exceptions, this has not proven to be viable for most businesses to date. You and I are slow to give up the opportunity to touch and feel a product before we purchase it. For some industries, like travel, the Internet has become a way to make the product more easily available; however, you can still buy a ticket from a travel agent in person if you so desire—that is, if you can find a travel agent who can afford to stay in business. The Internet has given hotels, airlines, and other travel-related companies the ability to cut out the middlemen—the agent—and save lots of money that used to be paid in commissions. We can now do all of the itinerary and pricing research a travel agent used to do from the comfort of our home. We can compare fares on airlines and hotel rooms with the click of a few buttons and buy all of the tickets online. The Internet shifts a great deal of the workload onto consumers, allowing the travel companies to reduce their staffs and expenses. You would think this savings would go toward lowering costs to consumers and improved quality, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, that has not been the case.
THE E-EDUCATION OF THE CONSUMER
The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the Internet provides consumers with incredible opportunity to spend their way to wealth by becoming much smarter about the things they buy. The Internet gives us unprecedented access to information about products and the companies that produce and sell them. The real power for consumers is our new ability to comparison shop, not only price, but features and benefits. We can literally shop the world for a better deal on the things we want and need to buy. You may never actually buy anything directly from the Internet. But you can go shopping at any local store armed with reams of information that you found on the Internet. This will make you a much smarter buyer who is much less likely to get manipulated by salespeople and the sales process and end up feeling ripped off. Just in the last six months we have researched clothing, furniture, toys, bedding, computers, sporting goods, and electronic equipment before going to a local retailer to negotiate a purchase. We have always saved money by doing this. In some cases, the retailer was offering a good price and we simply verified that fact.
I’ve mentioned using the Internet to do research on products and services you are thinking about purchasing. You also can now do quite a bit of information gathering on companies with which you are potentially going to do business. The information available about publicly held companies is staggering. You can find out information about recalls of certain products, lawsuits filed and the outcomes, and complaints about a company and its products. Some places to visit online include the Better Business Bureau (www.bbbonline.org), The Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov), Yahoo Finance (http://www.yahoo.com/), Hoovers Business Information (http://www.hoovers.com/), http://www.morningstar.com/, Securities and Exchange Commission (http://www.sec.gov/), and http://www.consumer.gov/, which provides links to consumer information from the federal government. You can also find out good things about products and companies, often from consumers just like you. There are forums and chat rooms dedicated to discussing certain companies and their products where you can read the comments and experiences of other consumers who have used the product. The Internet can make you a more knowledgeable consumer. What you do with that knowledge is up to you. The best way to find these discussions is to search your topic on the major search engines and by visiting Internet service provider chat rooms that focus on your topic, product, or company.
DISCOUNTS ON THE WEB
I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing the smart use of coupons. You now know how great money-saving coupons are and what a huge impact they can make on your financial future. The Internet makes it even easier to save money and build wealth with coupons. There are thousands of sources of free offers, coupons, and discounts on the Internet. You can literally search for coupons for the items you really want to purchase and then print the coupons right on your printer for free. In fact, coupons will often find you. They will pop up right before your eyes as you visit Web pages. You just need to pay attention. Marketers are throwing money at you electronically and all you have to do is hit the print button or click your mouse. Many people are annoyed by Internet marketing, yet if you walked through the grocery store and people kept popping up in front of your shopping cart waving dollar bills in front of your face to take if you wanted, would you be annoyed? I guess some people would be bothered. But not me.
I am very particular about which advertising I take advantage of, just as I am with the advertising that comes through regular mail, television, radio, and the newspaper. The Internet kind of advertising is just much easier to sift through and delete if you don’t want or need the offer. There are thousands of Web sites specifically dedicated to providing discount offerings. Imagine how cost effective it is for a manufacturer that, up until the Internet’s growth and acceptance by consumers, could only reach the public through costly printing of coupons and then paying to deliver them in newspapers and through the mail. For a company selling products and services, the Internet represents a highly cost-efficient way to reach customers. Companies really want the Internet to succeed and are constantly looking for new ways to attract shoppers and buyers to their Web sites. Can you imagine if companies could do away with the cost of building and running their traditional brick-and mortar stores? Profits would skyrocket. And so, companies are working hard to find the best ways to attract loyal Internet shoppers. There is a long way to go, but while they are looking for the right strategies, it can only mean good things for all consumers. Because it is so easy to start a business on the Internet, competition for your eyes, and your spending, is incredibly stiff. One of the best ways to attract visitors to a Web site is to offer discounts, free items, and lots of bargains. Internet marketers use the low-price sales proposition like crazy all over the Internet. You don’t see much about quality in these advertisements. At least not yet. It is unfortunate that quality is not a higher priority for these Web merchants, but, the name of the game right now is to create traffic on the Web site. To get people to visit, companies have to offer some compelling reason to the surfer. As each site continues to try to outdo each other, the offers keep getting better.
CUSTOMIZED CUSTOMER SERVICE
The Internet allows companies to customize the offers they present to you when you visit their Web site based on your past behavior and any information you voluntarily provide. For example, if you search for information on a certain brand of a product, the company can capture that information and, when you return to the Web site, offer you a special discount on that brand. Or, if you supply your e-mail address, the company will send you offers designed specifically for your tastes. Unfortunately, most companies are still not using this level of technology to serve customers and entice potential customers. One reason is the cost of the technology. It is relatively expensive for a company to design and develop a sophisticated customer service and marketing system on its Web site. On a positive note, this technology is getting less expensive every day and soon all companies on the Web will utilize some form of it. You may find my enthusiasm for this marketing technology to be amazing; but remember, I am the guy who loves to receive coupons in my mail. So, of course I am excited to think about receiving money in the form of savings in my e-mail. Imagine two or three clicks of my mouse and I can print out coupons for items I need and want to buy. It is the closest thing I can think of to legally printing money. Using the Internet, you can shop and save money without leaving your desk. The time savings alone is incredible. I urge you to track the time you save using the Internet and calculate an amount per hour. Think of it as earnings. Use the amount you earn per hour at work as a starting point to calculate your earnings. Think of the time you would have spent in traffic driving to stores, parking, walking around looking for your product and sales help.
If you earn $10 an hour at work and you save one hour of driving around town by using the Internet, consider that $10 saved and earned on top of any discounts you found on the Web. You will earn hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year. Time is money! And that doesn’t take into account the money you save by spending the time researching discounts and by simply being a more-informed shopper. Your biggest problem will be what to do with all of the spare time and money you create for yourself. Another reason for the slow growth of personalized communication between companies and consumers is the public’s reluctance to give out too much personal information over the Internet for fear that it will be used to harm them or inundate them with junk e-mail. I understand this. After all, a large part of the Internet’s popularity is the ability of surfers to be anonymous. This new technology allows those who want to give some personal information and receive offers to do so while others may remain anonymous if they so choose. Yet another reason for lack of specialized service from Internet merchants has a great deal to do with prevailing attitudes of merchants about customer service in general. A lack of commitment to customer service in the brick-and-mortar world translates very easily to the Internet. In fact, since the Internet represents such an automated and impersonal way of dealing with customers, I predict a lack of customer service focus will actually flourish on the Internet. As companies find they can make more sales through their Web sites without the cost of so many employees, they will naturally go too far in the direction of automation until customers begin to leave them because of lack of help when it is needed. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on many sites can only do so much. Customer service must be a priority for Internet stores because it is a relatively new, intimidating way to buy products for consumers. The consumer experience must be easy and pleasurable. If it appears difficult, or not as enjoyable as shopping at the mall, Internet merchants will suffer a long, cold winter waiting for online shopping to become the preferred shopping method.
BEWARE OF HIDDEN COSTS
When shopping and trying to save money on the Internet, don’t forget to factor in the cost of shipping when comparing prices. Often, the cost of shipping, added to the price of the merchandise, can make the difference between a good deal on the Internet and the same price you can get by driving to your local store. Sometimes you might actually end up paying more for an item once shipping and handling is added in. Plus, if the Internet Company is located in your state, and your state has a sales tax, this tax will have to be added to the cost of the item as well. Free shipping, of course, is the best shipping price. And, many smart Internet merchants are cutting their profit margins on some items and using free shipping as an enticement to sell more products. It is a smart thing to do, especially as they try to establish the Internet as a viable place for consumers to buy most of the things they need everyday.
DISCOUNTS ON DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS
Product-liquidation Web sites are becoming very popular places to save as much as 80 percent on brand name merchandise. To make things even better, these sites are still relatively unknown so it is like shopping in a mall of bargains with just a handful of people shopping with you. Of course, where the Internet is concerned, a handful still means several million shoppers each month. But, relatively speaking, that is a low number of visitors in the world of e-commerce since most people do not buy anything. These e-stores must have millions of visitors going to the sites in order to capture the small percentage of people who actually buy something. Remember, just like any brick-and-mortar store, these Web sites don’t make enough money to stay in business unless people are buying merchandise. They might make some money from advertising sales, but the bulk of the income is made through selling products and services. We, as consumers, want these sites to flourish so they can stay in business and continue providing easy access to huge bargains on really good merchandise. Liquidation sites, because they are selling items at huge discounts, have a lower profit margin built into each sale. Therefore, their return policies may be a bit different than traditional retail Internet sites. It is a good idea before you buy anything—no matter what type of Web site you are shopping at—to acquaint yourself with the return policy. Some sites offer very liberal return policies, give unlimited time to return an item, and will refund you the full amount of the expenditure. Other sites have much stricter guidelines about returning items and limit both the time you have to return an item and the amount you may receive as a refund. Some sites also may charge a restocking fee if you send something back. Really good sites will offer buyers a price protection policy: If you find a lower price on the same product within a certain time frame, they will refund the full amount of the difference or more. Knowing the rules of any store you choose to do business with will always save you a lot of stress if the product does not turn out to fit your needs. Overstock.com is one of many popular liquidation sites.
THE VIRTUAL CATALOG
Internet shopping is not much different than shopping through catalogs. Catalog shopping, which is more than a hundred years old, is certainly a much slower process. It is also much more expensive for the merchant to use catalog marketing, which naturally increases the cost of merchandise to the consumer. And, unless you receive thousands of catalogs each month in the mail, your selection of products is very limited. But, the basic premise of providing an efficient shopping experience for the consumer is the same in both mediums. Both offer unique advantages to the seller of goods and the buyer. The Internet can provide shoppers with a much more interactive sales presentation of any product. You can actually get involved in the design of your own products online. Car manufacturers were one of the first to use this technology allowing you to actually choose colors, body types, and features of a car and see the finished product in a 360-degree view so you can make changes. Some clothing manufacturers offer sites where you can create a computer image of yourself with your measurements. You can virtually see yourself wearing the clothes you are thinking of buying. Catalogs are much less flexible with product presentation. With only one or two static photographs of the item and a list of colors and sizes to choose from it is a much less informed buying decision. It really is the way things were done in, “the old days,” but still a viable and lucrative business until consumers totally embrace the Internet and all of its advantages. The one advantage that catalogs have over Web sites is the fact that a catalog can be mailed directly to your home while Web sites have to spend a lot of money to entice people to visit. It takes more work on the consumer’s part to go to a Web site than it does to take a catalog out of the mailbox. The catalog is right in your face. This is a huge advantage in addition to the fact that consumers are very used to buying from catalogs. Just about all companies who use catalogs have added Web sites. These companies realize the benefits of technology and will slowly phase out use of the catalogs. In the meantime, as they fight with the Internet for your precious dollars, you can demand top quality for the best possible price, or you can shop elsewhere. You have unlimited choices.
A WORD ABOUT SECURITY
Security also is a very important issue that Internet merchants must deal with. I would like to give you a few words of caution, especially if you are new to the online world. The Internet has provided a new frontier for every brand of con artist and thief you can imagine. The crime of identity theft is flourishing, in part due to the incredible ease with which computer networks and personal information can be stolen or “hacked.” Security on the Internet has improved by necessity over the years and technology such as encryption which codifies data, making it more difficult to decipher and read has helped to keep the “techno-thieves” off balance. You should not be scared away, though. I believe that you still stand a greater risk of having someone steal personal information from your mailbox than you do of someone stealing your information from a secure database. But, even Microsoft’s computers have been broken into by hackers, proving the highest levels of security are not foolproof. Internet merchants have a great deal of responsibility to keep your personal information as safe as possible when you trust them with it. However, you have an even bigger responsibility to protect yourself from cyber criminals. As I mentioned, the Internet has opened the doors to criminals who hide behind computer screens when they steal. These criminals can use your personal information to obtain credit cards, car loans, and even mortgages in your name. To protect yourself online and offline, follow these simple steps:
➤ Don’t give out personal information including your social security number, date of birth, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and driver’s license numbers unless you completely trust the person, company, or site requesting the information. Never give personal information online unless you are assured your information is being entered into a secure database. Never e-mail your personal information unless your information is being encrypted before being sent through the Web. Since information sent on the Internet is electronic, like a cell phone call, it can be intercepted. The key is to be very careful with what you transmit.
➤ Be especially careful with e-mail solicitations sent to you by complete strangers. If anyone e-mails you asking you to send personal information your radar should go up immediately. No governmental agency or law enforcement agency will e-mail you, unannounced, asking for personal information. Be careful if you are sent an e-mail telling you that you are the winner of a drawing or a sweepstakes. You may be asked to submit your personal information in order to process your winnings.
Any consumer scam that has been tried over the telephone or through the mail has shown up on the Internet. Just don’t let greed get the best of you and don’t let anyone talk you into doing something impulsively before you can check everything out to make sure the offer and the company are legitimate. The Federal Trade Commission, at ftc.gov track of these Internet related scams and it is a good idea to visit the Web site once in a while to keep aware of the latest problems. There is also a great deal of information about keeping safe from theft, both online and offline. The FTC covers a wide variety of consumer topics on its Web site and provides consumers with a good understanding of the protections that exist for you, even providing official complaint forms online. It is user-friendly and one of the best government sites I have ever visited. I visit the site often and suggest you do the same. It is a good idea to order copies of your credit report from the three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, at least once a year. You can do this online since all of these companies have Web sites. If you use your credit cards a lot, whether on the Internet or offline, you are probably best served by checking your credit reports twice a year. There are several credit report monitoring programs available now that will alert you anytime unusual use patterns seem to be occurring with your credit cards. For example, if you normally don’t spend large amounts with your card and one day several thousand dollars is charged to the card, you might get an alert from this monitoring company to make sure the expense is authorized. Many credit card companies will offer this service without cost as a matter of their own internal security, so be sure to ask the companies that handle your accounts if they offer such service before you invest in any outside monitoring program.
WWW: THE DOORWAY TO ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES
The efficiencies provided by the Internet are endless. You can lower your long-distance telephone rates, check your bank account, change the address on your driver’s license in most states, and order dinner to be delivered, all in a few minutes, from the comfort of your home. You can chat with people all over the world, research any fact, and order any book ever published. You can work from home thanks to the Internet. You can complete and file your taxes online. In your spare time you can start a small business and help your fifth-grader complete a report for school that would put the encyclopedia researched, hand-copied fifth grade reports of my generation to shame. The Internet is now accessible through a hand-held computer called a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and your cellular telephone. I imagine, eventually, watches and other pieces of small jewelry will have computer chips inside of them, which will give us even more efficient access to the Internet. One of the most exciting uses of the Internet is online education. It is called e-learning. You can take courses on any subject you choose as long as you have access to a computer and can log onto the Internet. All levels of college degrees are offered through the Internet. You can attend, remotely, some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the world and earn a degree online. The great part is, most online study allows you to attend class and study twenty-four hours a day. You can “go to class” on the Internet when it is convenient for you. This will allow many more people, who cannot attend traditional college classes, to improve their knowledge and expertise. We will become a smarter world, and, I think, a more peaceful world as the education level increases globally. Easier access to higher education will make it possible for people to boost their income. This is really an exciting by-product of the Internet. We will become wealthier people as a result of having easier access to more education and training. You can still live a very happy, fulfilling life without ever touching a computer and logging onto the Internet, but it is getting harder and harder to stay out of the way of e-commerce, especially as state and local governments begin to embrace the technology and realize it is a much cheaper and more efficient way to deliver information and services to citizens. With so many good things available from the Internet, even though there are some security issues to be concerned with, when I am asked, Internet or InterNOT I always choose the former.
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One reason for there being so much good, and bad, on the Internet is because it is so inexpensive to create a presence by obtaining a domain name, creating some Web pages, and placing those pages, or, uploading them, onto the Internet. Anyone can now have his own personal Web site. Many companies consider having a Web presence to be as necessary as having business cards. You can start a Web page on any subject; in fact, just about anything thousands of times.
BRICK-AND-MORTAR STILL NOT OBSOLETE
In the mid-1990s, as the Internet was just beginning to become popular, I remember the marketing message to business owners very clearly: If you own a business and you are not doing business on the Internet by the year 2000, chances are you will not still be in business. Of course, that turned out to be untrue. But at the time it seemed like it would be a real possibility and businesses flocked to the Internet in order to ensure they would not be outdone by their competition. As we also now know, many companies thought they could run businesses completely on the Internet without a traditional “brick-and mortar” presence. With very few exceptions, this has not proven to be viable for most businesses to date. You and I are slow to give up the opportunity to touch and feel a product before we purchase it. For some industries, like travel, the Internet has become a way to make the product more easily available; however, you can still buy a ticket from a travel agent in person if you so desire—that is, if you can find a travel agent who can afford to stay in business. The Internet has given hotels, airlines, and other travel-related companies the ability to cut out the middlemen—the agent—and save lots of money that used to be paid in commissions. We can now do all of the itinerary and pricing research a travel agent used to do from the comfort of our home. We can compare fares on airlines and hotel rooms with the click of a few buttons and buy all of the tickets online. The Internet shifts a great deal of the workload onto consumers, allowing the travel companies to reduce their staffs and expenses. You would think this savings would go toward lowering costs to consumers and improved quality, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, that has not been the case.
THE E-EDUCATION OF THE CONSUMER
The bottom line, in my opinion, is that the Internet provides consumers with incredible opportunity to spend their way to wealth by becoming much smarter about the things they buy. The Internet gives us unprecedented access to information about products and the companies that produce and sell them. The real power for consumers is our new ability to comparison shop, not only price, but features and benefits. We can literally shop the world for a better deal on the things we want and need to buy. You may never actually buy anything directly from the Internet. But you can go shopping at any local store armed with reams of information that you found on the Internet. This will make you a much smarter buyer who is much less likely to get manipulated by salespeople and the sales process and end up feeling ripped off. Just in the last six months we have researched clothing, furniture, toys, bedding, computers, sporting goods, and electronic equipment before going to a local retailer to negotiate a purchase. We have always saved money by doing this. In some cases, the retailer was offering a good price and we simply verified that fact.
I’ve mentioned using the Internet to do research on products and services you are thinking about purchasing. You also can now do quite a bit of information gathering on companies with which you are potentially going to do business. The information available about publicly held companies is staggering. You can find out information about recalls of certain products, lawsuits filed and the outcomes, and complaints about a company and its products. Some places to visit online include the Better Business Bureau (www.bbbonline.org), The Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov), Yahoo Finance (http://www.yahoo.com/), Hoovers Business Information (http://www.hoovers.com/), http://www.morningstar.com/, Securities and Exchange Commission (http://www.sec.gov/), and http://www.consumer.gov/, which provides links to consumer information from the federal government. You can also find out good things about products and companies, often from consumers just like you. There are forums and chat rooms dedicated to discussing certain companies and their products where you can read the comments and experiences of other consumers who have used the product. The Internet can make you a more knowledgeable consumer. What you do with that knowledge is up to you. The best way to find these discussions is to search your topic on the major search engines and by visiting Internet service provider chat rooms that focus on your topic, product, or company.
DISCOUNTS ON THE WEB
I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing the smart use of coupons. You now know how great money-saving coupons are and what a huge impact they can make on your financial future. The Internet makes it even easier to save money and build wealth with coupons. There are thousands of sources of free offers, coupons, and discounts on the Internet. You can literally search for coupons for the items you really want to purchase and then print the coupons right on your printer for free. In fact, coupons will often find you. They will pop up right before your eyes as you visit Web pages. You just need to pay attention. Marketers are throwing money at you electronically and all you have to do is hit the print button or click your mouse. Many people are annoyed by Internet marketing, yet if you walked through the grocery store and people kept popping up in front of your shopping cart waving dollar bills in front of your face to take if you wanted, would you be annoyed? I guess some people would be bothered. But not me.
I am very particular about which advertising I take advantage of, just as I am with the advertising that comes through regular mail, television, radio, and the newspaper. The Internet kind of advertising is just much easier to sift through and delete if you don’t want or need the offer. There are thousands of Web sites specifically dedicated to providing discount offerings. Imagine how cost effective it is for a manufacturer that, up until the Internet’s growth and acceptance by consumers, could only reach the public through costly printing of coupons and then paying to deliver them in newspapers and through the mail. For a company selling products and services, the Internet represents a highly cost-efficient way to reach customers. Companies really want the Internet to succeed and are constantly looking for new ways to attract shoppers and buyers to their Web sites. Can you imagine if companies could do away with the cost of building and running their traditional brick-and mortar stores? Profits would skyrocket. And so, companies are working hard to find the best ways to attract loyal Internet shoppers. There is a long way to go, but while they are looking for the right strategies, it can only mean good things for all consumers. Because it is so easy to start a business on the Internet, competition for your eyes, and your spending, is incredibly stiff. One of the best ways to attract visitors to a Web site is to offer discounts, free items, and lots of bargains. Internet marketers use the low-price sales proposition like crazy all over the Internet. You don’t see much about quality in these advertisements. At least not yet. It is unfortunate that quality is not a higher priority for these Web merchants, but, the name of the game right now is to create traffic on the Web site. To get people to visit, companies have to offer some compelling reason to the surfer. As each site continues to try to outdo each other, the offers keep getting better.
CUSTOMIZED CUSTOMER SERVICE
The Internet allows companies to customize the offers they present to you when you visit their Web site based on your past behavior and any information you voluntarily provide. For example, if you search for information on a certain brand of a product, the company can capture that information and, when you return to the Web site, offer you a special discount on that brand. Or, if you supply your e-mail address, the company will send you offers designed specifically for your tastes. Unfortunately, most companies are still not using this level of technology to serve customers and entice potential customers. One reason is the cost of the technology. It is relatively expensive for a company to design and develop a sophisticated customer service and marketing system on its Web site. On a positive note, this technology is getting less expensive every day and soon all companies on the Web will utilize some form of it. You may find my enthusiasm for this marketing technology to be amazing; but remember, I am the guy who loves to receive coupons in my mail. So, of course I am excited to think about receiving money in the form of savings in my e-mail. Imagine two or three clicks of my mouse and I can print out coupons for items I need and want to buy. It is the closest thing I can think of to legally printing money. Using the Internet, you can shop and save money without leaving your desk. The time savings alone is incredible. I urge you to track the time you save using the Internet and calculate an amount per hour. Think of it as earnings. Use the amount you earn per hour at work as a starting point to calculate your earnings. Think of the time you would have spent in traffic driving to stores, parking, walking around looking for your product and sales help.
If you earn $10 an hour at work and you save one hour of driving around town by using the Internet, consider that $10 saved and earned on top of any discounts you found on the Web. You will earn hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year. Time is money! And that doesn’t take into account the money you save by spending the time researching discounts and by simply being a more-informed shopper. Your biggest problem will be what to do with all of the spare time and money you create for yourself. Another reason for the slow growth of personalized communication between companies and consumers is the public’s reluctance to give out too much personal information over the Internet for fear that it will be used to harm them or inundate them with junk e-mail. I understand this. After all, a large part of the Internet’s popularity is the ability of surfers to be anonymous. This new technology allows those who want to give some personal information and receive offers to do so while others may remain anonymous if they so choose. Yet another reason for lack of specialized service from Internet merchants has a great deal to do with prevailing attitudes of merchants about customer service in general. A lack of commitment to customer service in the brick-and-mortar world translates very easily to the Internet. In fact, since the Internet represents such an automated and impersonal way of dealing with customers, I predict a lack of customer service focus will actually flourish on the Internet. As companies find they can make more sales through their Web sites without the cost of so many employees, they will naturally go too far in the direction of automation until customers begin to leave them because of lack of help when it is needed. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on many sites can only do so much. Customer service must be a priority for Internet stores because it is a relatively new, intimidating way to buy products for consumers. The consumer experience must be easy and pleasurable. If it appears difficult, or not as enjoyable as shopping at the mall, Internet merchants will suffer a long, cold winter waiting for online shopping to become the preferred shopping method.
BEWARE OF HIDDEN COSTS
When shopping and trying to save money on the Internet, don’t forget to factor in the cost of shipping when comparing prices. Often, the cost of shipping, added to the price of the merchandise, can make the difference between a good deal on the Internet and the same price you can get by driving to your local store. Sometimes you might actually end up paying more for an item once shipping and handling is added in. Plus, if the Internet Company is located in your state, and your state has a sales tax, this tax will have to be added to the cost of the item as well. Free shipping, of course, is the best shipping price. And, many smart Internet merchants are cutting their profit margins on some items and using free shipping as an enticement to sell more products. It is a smart thing to do, especially as they try to establish the Internet as a viable place for consumers to buy most of the things they need everyday.
DISCOUNTS ON DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS
Product-liquidation Web sites are becoming very popular places to save as much as 80 percent on brand name merchandise. To make things even better, these sites are still relatively unknown so it is like shopping in a mall of bargains with just a handful of people shopping with you. Of course, where the Internet is concerned, a handful still means several million shoppers each month. But, relatively speaking, that is a low number of visitors in the world of e-commerce since most people do not buy anything. These e-stores must have millions of visitors going to the sites in order to capture the small percentage of people who actually buy something. Remember, just like any brick-and-mortar store, these Web sites don’t make enough money to stay in business unless people are buying merchandise. They might make some money from advertising sales, but the bulk of the income is made through selling products and services. We, as consumers, want these sites to flourish so they can stay in business and continue providing easy access to huge bargains on really good merchandise. Liquidation sites, because they are selling items at huge discounts, have a lower profit margin built into each sale. Therefore, their return policies may be a bit different than traditional retail Internet sites. It is a good idea before you buy anything—no matter what type of Web site you are shopping at—to acquaint yourself with the return policy. Some sites offer very liberal return policies, give unlimited time to return an item, and will refund you the full amount of the expenditure. Other sites have much stricter guidelines about returning items and limit both the time you have to return an item and the amount you may receive as a refund. Some sites also may charge a restocking fee if you send something back. Really good sites will offer buyers a price protection policy: If you find a lower price on the same product within a certain time frame, they will refund the full amount of the difference or more. Knowing the rules of any store you choose to do business with will always save you a lot of stress if the product does not turn out to fit your needs. Overstock.com is one of many popular liquidation sites.
THE VIRTUAL CATALOG
Internet shopping is not much different than shopping through catalogs. Catalog shopping, which is more than a hundred years old, is certainly a much slower process. It is also much more expensive for the merchant to use catalog marketing, which naturally increases the cost of merchandise to the consumer. And, unless you receive thousands of catalogs each month in the mail, your selection of products is very limited. But, the basic premise of providing an efficient shopping experience for the consumer is the same in both mediums. Both offer unique advantages to the seller of goods and the buyer. The Internet can provide shoppers with a much more interactive sales presentation of any product. You can actually get involved in the design of your own products online. Car manufacturers were one of the first to use this technology allowing you to actually choose colors, body types, and features of a car and see the finished product in a 360-degree view so you can make changes. Some clothing manufacturers offer sites where you can create a computer image of yourself with your measurements. You can virtually see yourself wearing the clothes you are thinking of buying. Catalogs are much less flexible with product presentation. With only one or two static photographs of the item and a list of colors and sizes to choose from it is a much less informed buying decision. It really is the way things were done in, “the old days,” but still a viable and lucrative business until consumers totally embrace the Internet and all of its advantages. The one advantage that catalogs have over Web sites is the fact that a catalog can be mailed directly to your home while Web sites have to spend a lot of money to entice people to visit. It takes more work on the consumer’s part to go to a Web site than it does to take a catalog out of the mailbox. The catalog is right in your face. This is a huge advantage in addition to the fact that consumers are very used to buying from catalogs. Just about all companies who use catalogs have added Web sites. These companies realize the benefits of technology and will slowly phase out use of the catalogs. In the meantime, as they fight with the Internet for your precious dollars, you can demand top quality for the best possible price, or you can shop elsewhere. You have unlimited choices.
A WORD ABOUT SECURITY
Security also is a very important issue that Internet merchants must deal with. I would like to give you a few words of caution, especially if you are new to the online world. The Internet has provided a new frontier for every brand of con artist and thief you can imagine. The crime of identity theft is flourishing, in part due to the incredible ease with which computer networks and personal information can be stolen or “hacked.” Security on the Internet has improved by necessity over the years and technology such as encryption which codifies data, making it more difficult to decipher and read has helped to keep the “techno-thieves” off balance. You should not be scared away, though. I believe that you still stand a greater risk of having someone steal personal information from your mailbox than you do of someone stealing your information from a secure database. But, even Microsoft’s computers have been broken into by hackers, proving the highest levels of security are not foolproof. Internet merchants have a great deal of responsibility to keep your personal information as safe as possible when you trust them with it. However, you have an even bigger responsibility to protect yourself from cyber criminals. As I mentioned, the Internet has opened the doors to criminals who hide behind computer screens when they steal. These criminals can use your personal information to obtain credit cards, car loans, and even mortgages in your name. To protect yourself online and offline, follow these simple steps:
➤ Don’t give out personal information including your social security number, date of birth, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and driver’s license numbers unless you completely trust the person, company, or site requesting the information. Never give personal information online unless you are assured your information is being entered into a secure database. Never e-mail your personal information unless your information is being encrypted before being sent through the Web. Since information sent on the Internet is electronic, like a cell phone call, it can be intercepted. The key is to be very careful with what you transmit.
➤ Be especially careful with e-mail solicitations sent to you by complete strangers. If anyone e-mails you asking you to send personal information your radar should go up immediately. No governmental agency or law enforcement agency will e-mail you, unannounced, asking for personal information. Be careful if you are sent an e-mail telling you that you are the winner of a drawing or a sweepstakes. You may be asked to submit your personal information in order to process your winnings.
Any consumer scam that has been tried over the telephone or through the mail has shown up on the Internet. Just don’t let greed get the best of you and don’t let anyone talk you into doing something impulsively before you can check everything out to make sure the offer and the company are legitimate. The Federal Trade Commission, at ftc.gov track of these Internet related scams and it is a good idea to visit the Web site once in a while to keep aware of the latest problems. There is also a great deal of information about keeping safe from theft, both online and offline. The FTC covers a wide variety of consumer topics on its Web site and provides consumers with a good understanding of the protections that exist for you, even providing official complaint forms online. It is user-friendly and one of the best government sites I have ever visited. I visit the site often and suggest you do the same. It is a good idea to order copies of your credit report from the three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, at least once a year. You can do this online since all of these companies have Web sites. If you use your credit cards a lot, whether on the Internet or offline, you are probably best served by checking your credit reports twice a year. There are several credit report monitoring programs available now that will alert you anytime unusual use patterns seem to be occurring with your credit cards. For example, if you normally don’t spend large amounts with your card and one day several thousand dollars is charged to the card, you might get an alert from this monitoring company to make sure the expense is authorized. Many credit card companies will offer this service without cost as a matter of their own internal security, so be sure to ask the companies that handle your accounts if they offer such service before you invest in any outside monitoring program.
WWW: THE DOORWAY TO ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES
The efficiencies provided by the Internet are endless. You can lower your long-distance telephone rates, check your bank account, change the address on your driver’s license in most states, and order dinner to be delivered, all in a few minutes, from the comfort of your home. You can chat with people all over the world, research any fact, and order any book ever published. You can work from home thanks to the Internet. You can complete and file your taxes online. In your spare time you can start a small business and help your fifth-grader complete a report for school that would put the encyclopedia researched, hand-copied fifth grade reports of my generation to shame. The Internet is now accessible through a hand-held computer called a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and your cellular telephone. I imagine, eventually, watches and other pieces of small jewelry will have computer chips inside of them, which will give us even more efficient access to the Internet. One of the most exciting uses of the Internet is online education. It is called e-learning. You can take courses on any subject you choose as long as you have access to a computer and can log onto the Internet. All levels of college degrees are offered through the Internet. You can attend, remotely, some of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the world and earn a degree online. The great part is, most online study allows you to attend class and study twenty-four hours a day. You can “go to class” on the Internet when it is convenient for you. This will allow many more people, who cannot attend traditional college classes, to improve their knowledge and expertise. We will become a smarter world, and, I think, a more peaceful world as the education level increases globally. Easier access to higher education will make it possible for people to boost their income. This is really an exciting by-product of the Internet. We will become wealthier people as a result of having easier access to more education and training. You can still live a very happy, fulfilling life without ever touching a computer and logging onto the Internet, but it is getting harder and harder to stay out of the way of e-commerce, especially as state and local governments begin to embrace the technology and realize it is a much cheaper and more efficient way to deliver information and services to citizens. With so many good things available from the Internet, even though there are some security issues to be concerned with, when I am asked, Internet or InterNOT I always choose the former.
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