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www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/trends/article.php/991721
By Beth Cox March 14, 2002 I guess you could call it just another sign of the mainstreaming of the Internet -- ConsumerReports.org said the other day that it has reached the 800,000 paid subscriber mark. No doubt the magic number of a million won't be far off. The news didn't even make much of a splash anywhere. Yonkers, N.Y.-based Consumer Reports, which launched online in November 1997, boasted that it is "the largest publication-based subscription site on the Web." Ordinarily that sort of tub-thumping leaves me pretty cold, but in this case I was struck by the implications; here's an online service that hundreds of thousands of people are willing to pay for to become -- get this -- better shoppers. And a lot of that shopping is done online just as a matter of course. Even more is done offline, after evaluating product information and purchase options on the Web. Of course, the Wall Street Journal also has had much success in getting people to pay for content. The online version claimed 626,000 paying subscribers as of late January. The Journal launched online in 1996. CR's parent, Consumer's Union, made its first arrangement with a consumer online service in 1978 to include information from the magazine on the Viewtron service of Viewdata Corp. Since then, Consumer Reports has been a part of the development of the online industry as a content provider to a variety of online services. And it's not just Consumer Reports that has the kind of value proposition that can persuade folks to part with some subscription money. "Paid content is becoming an increasingly important part of the business models of Web publishers," said Michael Zimbalist, executive director of the Online Publishers Association (OPA). And you don't have to be a nationally recognized brand like Consumer Reports or the Wall Street Journal to attract paying customers. An OPA spokesman said that dating sites like match.com, specific topic sites like ediets.com and even some entertainment/gaming sites are having success in getting people to pony up. Maybe content will turn out to be king after all. Increasingly, the online demographic resembles that of the general population, which I would take to be an audience that is not necessarily as young and affluent as the early Internet users, and also lacking that pioneer gnarly-surfer-dude attitude that everything available online really ought to be free, "because that's the way it was back in 1995." In fact, new figures from Jupiter Media Metrix say that the majority of online shoppers in the U.S. within the next five years are more likely to be over the age of 35 and from households with an annual income between $30,000 and $75,000, compared with the young, affluent shoppers who make up the current online buying population. Jupiter's report, titled "Avoiding Irrelevance Through Constant Customer Analysis," predicts that the online shopping population -- which now consists of 66 million Americans -- will double to 132 million in the same period. "The next generation of online shoppers will be quite a bit different than the consumers who defined the Internet channel in its early years," said Ken Cassar, Jupiter senior analyst. "They will be more representative of middle-class America." Which may explain why ConsumerReports.org can expect to see a steady increase in subscribers. Many of us average income-type Americans really need to get the maximum bang for our bucks. And as the online population gets older, more and more Net users will be investors, keeping track of developments through sites such as the Wall Street Journal. All of this is good news for e-commerce in general, and for publishers who are offering real content for real people who buy online with real money. |
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