Using the Internet for business is far from groundbreaking.
The Internet might seem like a highway on the road to nowhere, but it’s really going somewhere. New entrepreneurs should consider the seemingly limitless profit potential and infinite clientele on the Web. Even in 2008, according to The World Factbook produced by the CIA, over 300 million people had regular access to the Internet in Canada, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
From Netflix to eBay, the face of U.S. commerce is changing. It just so happens that the market for goods and services is starting to look more digital. Now could be an opportune time for a few more entrepreneurs to make the switch to an online-only business model.
The U.S. Census Bureau found in 2008 that domestic retail sales over the Internet reached approximately $142 billion. To place that figure in context, the gross domestic product of Peru was slightly over $122 billion in 2009, according to the U.S. State Department.
The amount of revenue from online sources in this country is growing, too. Advertising is not a joke. In early 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported that Einstein Bros. Bagels had its best week of nationwide sales for the year after it decided to offer free bagels to its new Facebook fans. Facing the prospects of having to give away over 500,000 free bagels to the masses might have placed some pressure on local stores, but the company as a whole was definitely banking on repeat customers from its online marketing campaign.
While the Internet might not be the de facto tool for buying groceries or cars, it is playing a bigger role in our lives.
In the not too distant future, online behavioral advertising might be coming to a screen near you.
Several days ago, the American Association of Advertising Agencies announced a new initiative that aims to self-regulate the advertising industry and provide consumers with more knowledge and transparency about how their information, such as the Web pages they visit, is being used for behavioral advertising. The practice of behavioral advertising is how a company targets consumers based on their perceived interests and preferences gathered online.
While you’re surfing the Internet, you might encounter an “Advertising Option Icon,” which indicates that the online advertisement falls under this new self-regulatory program. This means that you’ll receive disclosure on what will be done with your information if you click on the advertisement. The new initiative on transparent advertising looks promising. However, disclosures about targeted advertising might not be so revolutionary after all.
Since the late 1990s, Google has been committed to thinking about advertising outside the box and runs advertisements that are aimed at being both relevant and cost-effective.
Google’s business model relies on advertising to generate the majority of its revenue, and, judging from the $6.52 billion profit the company reported in 2009, it’s not a bad strategy.
On the other hand, where does any of this fit into the college experience? Google started as a research project on Stanford University’s campus and morphed into a company that strives to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” That might seem like a rather lofty goal, but entrepreneurship and the Internet can make for a great couple.
Advertising is just one of the ways that a college student can start a business over the Internet. Running online advertisements can provide a solid revenue stream à la Google, but it doesn’t have to end there.
Arizona’s unemployment rate reached 9.6 percent in July, according to the Arizona Department of Commerce. The labor market is a complex entity and dissecting a number like that isn’t really meant for this column. As a college student, starting your own business might be more on your mind than the job market, depending on whether you’re close to graduation or not. Either way, it’s probably not too late to start your own company.
The Internet has brought us everything from YouTube clips of college fight songs to Wikipedia entries on 19th century secondary education in Rhode Island. Our lives are still changing with technology, and they are likely to continue to evolve together far into the foreseeable future.
Bill Gates once said, “Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.”
If there’s really a viable market for commerce on the Internet, why not test the waters? Send creative ad pitches to Isaiah at isaiah.mccoy@asu.edu
