Increase in internet use leads to increase in online spending
In May 1999, Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that there were 1.1 million households accessing the Internet in Australia. This accords to what is known as a penetration rate of 16%. Last year, it was calculated that 8,300,000 Australian access the Internet each month, a penetration rate of over 60% and a growth rate of over 800% in just 5 years.
It is now evident to most Australians that if you still use dial-up instead of broadband to access the internet that you are living in the past. The thought of having no access to internet at all no longer only strikes fear into the eyes of the teenage computer nerd, it reaches to parents, companies, students, and the elderly.
The big question of what drives such demand for the internet is answered by one simple word, accessibility. The internet gives everyone from the techno-scared to the IT specialist a way to communicate and to carry out their everyday chores in a much more accessible and simple manor.
An article in this week’s Sydney Morning Herald stated that “Online spending by Australians grew by over 30 per cent in the December quarter in the wake of businesses using the internet as a cost-effective selling tool”. This evidence clearly shakes the tree of the skeptics who believed that internet shopping would not take off due to a lack of security.
When compared with the fact that, even two years ago, 20 percent of Australian families were going online for more than 50 percent of their banking, it is clear that the online presence of the majority of Australian people is not only here to stay but increasing.
The increase is evidenced by fact that "Internet sales are no longer just made up of large ticket items such as travel and accommodation, it is being used more and more for everyday purchases".
So whether it be itunes online music sales, groceries, or booking a plane between Melbourne and Sydney, the internet has taken off and the business savvy would be ill-advised not to accompany it.
