Exactly 25 years ago, computer manufacturer Symbolics, based in Cambridge, Mass., registered the first .com domain. Today there are 84 million. Of course a Web site, 25yearsof.com, is celebrating the anniversary. And a Facebook fan page declares: There are 11.9 million e-commerce and online business Web sites, 4.3 million entertainment-related sites and 1.8 million sports sites with a .com Web address. When was the first time you registered a .com domain?
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(Trinidad)T&T’s information technology (IT) industry is far behind that of the developed world, said Miles Abraham, director, Simply Intense Media (SIM). “T&T is about ten years behind first-world nations. What was happening in the United Kingdom (UK) about ten years ago is where we are at now. The mobile phone market was liberalised and then prices dropped, then the Internet exploded, so that’s where we are. Then broadband becomes mass market and everything goes online.” Abraham was interviewed on Monday at SIM’s Belmont office.
E-commerce
Talking about e-commerce, Abraham said many T&T businesses do not use e-commerce effectively. “The Internet sector is a bit behind where it should be. The sector is fairly behind because of the drawbacks of e-commerce. Many of the banks are not using e-commerce as they should be. They should be making it a bit more available to people. “They are trying to facilitate it, but it’s not really available to the average man on the street. You’ve got to have a fairly large account and maybe a credit card, but there are cheaper alternatives.” Abraham said there needs to be more a professional approach in the way online marketing is done.
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At Kingston Beta last night, a bunch of us were discussing as ot what were teh chief reasons for many Caribbean startups in the Tech/Internet/Mobile space startup then stagnate.
The group agreed on these top 3:
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Just read through the list of Top 30 richest Internet Entrepreneurs and noticed that they covered these areas…search, site directory/portal, ecommerce, online video, online payment services, VOIP, Social networking, web hosting and online Lending. Hmmm. Instructive and inspirintg. Wonder what the list will look like in 3 years time?
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Just as many Web retailers feared, online shoppers are being unusually frugal this holiday season. During the first 23 days of November, according to a report to be released later on Tuesday by the research firm comScore, consumers spent $8.19 billion online, a 4 percent drop from the same period last year. That marks the first annual decline since e-commerce took off.
“We thought that things would solidify in November,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, who said gut-wrenching declines in the stock market and the auto industry crisis “spooked people who might have been thinking the worst was behind us.” More
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My Elite Grocer (MEG) is a lifestyle management solution for People On The Go, who would rather be someplace other than Standing-in-Line for Groceries. The site and the Service launched in Jamaica this month.MEG’s pitch is simple… ” Grocery Shopping and Home Delivery, leaving you free to live today’s lifestyle the way you want to…the way you should…EASY.”
Here’s what I like about MEG, she seems to know her market segments. The company has identified the individual niche segments that could use the service and puts them out there with a sweet spin. CHeck them out.
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Five year old textbook rental startup Chegg is really starting to ramp up sales, we’ve heard. The average college student, they say, spends $900 per year on textbooks. Chegg saves them 70-80% of that by renting them the books instead of selling them outright.
Here’s how it works: students find the books they want by searching by ISBN, author, title or keyword. The rental price for the semester or quarter is just 20-30% of the full retail price, and are delivered within eight business days. At the end of the term, the students receive a pre-paid shipping box to return them. Students are even allowed to highlight books (but no writing in them). MORE
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It is not only retail stores that are feeling the pinch as shoppers close their wallets just ahead of the holiday season. E-commerce sales, though still growing faster than retail, are hurting, too.
E-commerce spending growth slowed to 6 percent in the third quarter over the year before, down from 13 percent in the second quarter, according to comScore. Growth rates have declined every month since April, and September’s rate of 5 percent was the lowest recorded by comScore since it started tracking e-commerce in 2001. More
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