Broadband and Retail: Black Friday and Cyber-24/7/365 - The Shelly Palmer Report

It39s official we39re in a recession Which is incredibly bad news to get at the opening of the holiday shopping season Not that anyone needed the National Bureau of Economic Research the private organization charged with making such determinations to tell us that times are tough We all know it too well No matter what business you39re in you have to be feeling the pressure Retail is no exceptionOn Black Friday retailers were practically giving away goods in order to get consumers into stores In fact that morning when a Walmart employee was literally trampled to death by bargainhunting consumers pundits and psychologists were all over the airwave espousing theories of mob mentality and blaming the tragedy on the hard economic timesIn total sales weren39t down but they only increased 09 compared with 65 last year I wonder how many people were walking through the mall with their Blackberry39s and Googling items they saw in the store and finding them significantly cheaper online With no tax and free shipping to boot While it is understood that retail is in drastic need of a business makeover the economy is so uncertain that even ecommerce an industry that has never experienced a decrease in sales saw sales fall by 2 in November For ecommerce it was the worst monthly performance since Retail Metrics began keeping score in 2000Conversely Cyber Monday the ecommerce equivalent of Black Friday was a smashing success with etailers posting a 15 increase in sales over last year This increase in sales is credited to major discounts free shipping and an increase of 22 in the amount of people shopping online Gian Fulgoni chairman of comScore noted that quotBecause of the extremely attractive prices offered by a myriad of retailers it shouldn39t be surprising that nearly two million more consumers purchased online this Cyber Monday compared to last But because of their reduced spending power it39s also evident that those who did buy were unable or unwilling to spend as much per person as we saw last yearquot According to comScore so far this holiday season 111121 consumers have spent 1203 billion online Cyber Monday alone saw 846 million spent and helped tighten this year39s loss from 15 to 2 A major factor in the increasing success of online retail has been the increase in broadband penetration throughout the country According to a recent survey by the Leichtman Research group quotat current growth rates broadband penetration among active Internet users should break 90 by mid2008 in the USquot The Pew Internet ampamp American Life Project notes 57 of Americans now have a broadband connection in their home This level of broadband ubiquity helped increase web traffic by 10 on Cyber Monday Even more importantly in a related study conducted by Connected Nation 134 billion could be annually injected into the economy by developing a nationwide broadband network quicker than the current paceAccording to the FCC website quotFCC Chairman Kevin Martin has recognized that broadband technology is a key driver of economic growthquot Martin realizes the inherent value of the Internet and how it can benefit business in generalIf you39ve been reading the papers you39ve probably noticed that over the past few months Chairman Martin has been pushing for a free WiFi network that would cover the entire nation The only catch is that the he wants it to be quotfamily friendlyquot meaning the network would censor pornography Good luck with that The FCC39s plan is to auction off 25MHz of Advanced Wireless Service bandwidth which is adjacent to the bandwidth TMobile operates its system on It would be used to roll out a nationwide wireless broadband network Of course a private company would have to bankroll the entire thing and then give it away for free It39s not a compelling business model no matter how you spin it So here39s a thought How about having the Government build out a national quotsmut freequot wireless network It would not be as fast as the services offered by the private sector but it would help enable our citizens to participate in the new digital economy This relatively inexpensive infrastructure project could help speed Connected Nation39s 134 Billion into our economy You know what they say quota few billion here a few billion there after a while it adds up to real moneyquotAll kidding aside imagine the potential for ecommerce if the entire nation had access to wireless Internet While many would continue to use traditional brick and mortar stores for convenience goods perishables and other things you need on the spot the fact that anyone could have access to the web at any moment whether via mobile or fixed wireless would be an astounding thing for the um excuse me economy FACT On Cyber Monday eBay had nearly 13 million hits 45 increase over 112007 while Amazon tallied 92 million visitors up 56 percent over last yearImagine how many visitors eBay would have if 43 more of the country had access to a relatively highspeed wireless network Amazon would probably have 20 million uniques a day maybe more Jeff you may want to consider getting into the spectrum business If you examine the chart you39ll notice that nearly every single one of the companies is from the traditional retail world Even Sears who can barely keep their doors open is enjoying traffic success on the web As evidenced in the list big companies and big brands are best positioned to take advantage of emerging technology This is a particularly good time to contact your elected officials and tell them how you feel about the value of a robust national broadband policy If we are going to start some big national infrastructure projects a ubiquitous highspeed broadband network that is free for everyone would truly help the economy It would usher in a new culture of consumerism empower small businesses and jumpstart a generation of innovators Yes times are tough but the only way things are going to get easier is if we work hard to make them so Send Commissioner Copps a note httpwwwfccgovcommissionerscoppsmailhtml amp160Tell him you need his help You can also tell him Shelly sent youShelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology media ampamp entertainment He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked TV 2008 York House Press Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences NY the organization that bestows the coveted Emmyamp174 Awards You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here Shelly can be reached at shellypalmernetamp160Check out the Shelly Palmer Report archive

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Broadband and Retail: Black Friday and Cyber-24/7/365 - The Shelly Palmer Report

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