Life in the big Netropolis

Can anything have divided opinion as much as the internet, particularly its role in commerce and retailing?

At one extreme are the people who argue that the Net is nothing more than a global Speaker's Corner, where X-Files enthusiasts exchange stories of alien abduction, wannabe Spice Girls upload poor-quality scans of the same photos, and every anorak in the Western world has a platform for promoting their own special interest.

At the other extreme are the techo-management gurus, who would have you believe we are witnessing the first stages of the most important socio-economic revolution ever in the history of the world.

The reality may be that the internet is so large and pervasive that all views have an element of truth. Look at publishing - is it only an information medium, in the form of our broadsheet newspapers? What about entertainment publications, from the tabloids to Cosmopolitan to film and movie magazines?

And there are magazines to cater for every interest and point of view (including glossy monthlies that have more information than most people could want to know about - yes, the X-Files and the Spice Girls).

Then think about the commercial angle in publishing. Publishers make money from their readers by selling copies, but any publication is also an advertising medium so some magazines and newspapers are free to readers and funded entirely by advertisers. And in the form of corporate newsletters, brochures and other material, publishing can be a vehicle for pure marketing, user support or both.

Any attempt to define the internet as a single medium is bound to fail.

So it is all the more surprising that computer resellers have been so slow to adopt it as part of their commercial, marketing and advertising strategies. A quick search for PC and/or computer sales on Yahoo's UK directory reveals fewer than 200 Websites in the UK. Several of them are involved in PC sales only indirectly, while at least one - Callhaven - is no longer with us.

There are drawbacks. The internet is not just noisy, it's a deafening racket. Using any of the Web search engines to look for information results in thousands or hundreds of thousands of hits. It can be difficult to get your message across.

There is also the fact that acceptance and use of the internet in the UK is considerably smaller than in the US, where much of the hype originates.

Compare UK telecoms costs and efficiency against those in the US and you quickly see why internet use is so much greater across the Atlantic. There are other factors at work, too - the US has been a credit card society much longer than the UK, and America is so geographically diverse that remote shopping and mail-order retailing are better established.

Allowing that it may be too early to invest heavily in Web-based commerce, there are plenty of opportunities for UK resellers to exploit the internet.

A marketing and advertising site needn't cost a fortune, and compared with the price of direct mail and other promotional activity it can be highly cost-effective.

The key is to design the site to suit your aims. Just as businesses had to learn the best way to use advertising and direct mail campaigns, so we all have to discover effective use of the internet. Too many sites make the same errors - designs that would never be approved in print advertising or corporate literature, and omitting addresses, telephone and fax numbers.

Probably the worst mistake of all, though, would be to ignore the internet. Dataquest and IDC agree that it is pushing our industry into a 'third age', that the familiar model of computer retailing is finished.

The most successful companies are moving to online sales models for hardware, while leading software publishers are experimenting with Web-based sales.

So far, with the exception of companies like Dell with its direct model, they are looking for a way to incorporate the reseller channel within a mixed strategy. It would be prudent for dealers to take the initiative and gain their own experience.

Whether the internet is evolution or revolution, as the sabre-tooth tiger and Marie Antoinette could testify, 'adapt or die' is the appropriate motto.

Clare Rees is European Marketing Manager of Macromedia.