INTERNET SURVEY SHOWS THE MONEY IS THERE
By Adnews Staff
A study released released this week shows that "electronic commerce on the Internet is a significant commercial opportunity." At least, that's what Mitchell Levy says. Levy is electronic commerce manager with Sun Microsystems and marketing group chair of CommerceNet, a U.S.-based group of companies and institutions that promote doing business on the Internet. The study referred to by Levy was carried out by CommerceNet and A.C. Nielsen Company's Nielsen Media Research division. Its organizers call it the "most rigorous Internet study completed to date." It looks at what kinds of people use the Internet and what they like to do on it. The CommerceNet/Nielsen Internet Demographics Survey found that about 24 million people at least 16 years old logged on to the Internet in the United States and Canada in the past three months. Sixty-six per cent of Net surfers are males who also spend more time on-line than women. Twenty-five per cent of those who browse the World Wide Web earn more than $80,000 a year, compared with 10% of the general population. Sixty-four per cent of Web users possess at least a college degree, compared with 28% of the general population. About 14% of people who go on the Web - 2.5 million in total - have made purchases through the international computer network. More than 4,000 telephone interviews were conducted with current and potential Internet users aged 16 and up. A synopsis of the study is available free on the CommerceNet Web site <http://www.commerce.net> and on Nielsen's site <http://www.nielsenmedia.com>.