September 3, 2001—According to a new report from Internet analysts Jupiter Media Metrix, there will be continued long-term growth in the Internet marketplace, even though current market conditions will bring temporary hurdles and setbacks in the months ahead. Furthermore, consumers do not seem to be bothered by the dot-com shakeout.
The report identifies the main factors driving the long-term growth of the Internet as: the continued consumers’ demand for Internet services, more fulfilling online users’ experiences, growth in consumers’ average online tenure, and business cost savings. Jupiter maintains that these factors, which initially made the Internet so promising, remain powerful and will become self-reinforcing with the passage of time.
According to the report, current market constraints include: reduced financial market liquidity, weakened consumer confidence, and reduced capital and marketing expenditures. These constraints are said to have slowed growth in some sectors, such as online advertising revenue, business-to-business (B2B) trade, and B2B infrastructure spending, but their overall impact is expected to be relatively modest.
Jupiter analysts have also found that consumers are seemingly oblivious to the dot-com shakeout. Their online traffic data show that the total number of unique visitors grew by over 13 percent throughout the first half of 2001, despite the negative publicity surrounding the Internet. In addition, the portion of online visitors to retail sites who go into secure mode, a proxy for online buying, is increasing steadily as well, from less than one-quarter of online retail site visitors in January 2000, to 45 percent in January 2001. For more information, visit Jupiter Media Metrix.
