So, What Is Left? A Huge Research and Transaction Tool

Consumers buy books, credit cards, travel, pornography, and financial services on the Web. A much smaller number of people than had been anticipated in the 1990s look at or respond to ads. What they often do is research. Ordinary households use the Web as a combination of Yellow Pages and Consumer Reports. They look up maps, cars, appliances, real estate, and interest rates, and they use this information when they buy. Because of the Web, consumers are far better informed today than they were 5 years ago. It is not unusual to see a consumer going to a dealer carrying a PC printout that has all the background on what she plans to buy.

Dealers have to be more informed about their competition (and they find it easier to be thus informed) because their customers are better informed as a result of the Web.

My wife, Helena, and I were confronted with a problem. We had bought a condo in Fort Lauderdale, but our two cars were in Arlington, Virginia. We wanted to move one car to Florida and keep it there. I am not up to driving to Florida, and neither is Helena. So what could we do? We used www.Google.com and entered “Automobile Transportation.” The first name on the list was www.intercitylines.com, which specializes in moving cars in closed vans. The price was right, and we made a deal then and there on the Web. How could we have found such a firm without the Web? The company is in Massachusetts, and it does not advertise in our Yellow Pages. This is what the Web is all about.

So what does this mean for those who want to use the Web to sell to consumers today? Manufacturers and catalogers need to have a really good site that has pictures and images of all their products and those products’ features. They need to:

• Make it easy for customers to look up their products.

• Have a guide to local dealers by Zip code.

• Use the Web to sell spare parts that dealers cannot or will not stock.

• Make it easy to print on a PC what the consumer sees on the Web.