Another Weirdly Exaggerated Story About the Internet
A New York Times story posits that online shoppers are growing “web-weary”, bringing us to a new era of “Dot Calm.”
I can only figure that writers Matt Richtel and Bob Tedeschi got caught up in the cute phraseology vortex. Their argument is sound: Internet sales are up, but just not as high as the insane spikes of the last few years. For example, online book sales are up 11%, as compared to 40% last year.
Their conclusion – that online shoppers are “weary” and looking elsewhere to make purchasing decisions – makes no sense, however.
40% spikes can’t last forever. The Internet is maturing, and more people than ever before are joining the bandwagon.
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June 18th, 2007 at 10:00 am
I think that Matt Richtel and Bob Tedeschi’s assertion that online shoppers are “weary” and looking elsewhere to make purchasing decisions is way off base. Everyone I know (including myself) is buying, buying, buying on the internet — more than ever!
June 21st, 2007 at 6:13 am
Precisely. Exponential growth can’t go on forever. Frankly, it’s amazing how fast things grew in the first place, and no surprise that they are settling back into a (still amazing) more predictable pattern. Good news for Best Buy and Half Priced Books, though, I guess - gives them a little more time to get everything online.
June 21st, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Yes, it would be nice to see some major competition for Amazon one of these days!
Overall, was nice to see that a piece in Slate basically agreed that the NYT piece is a bit silly and “web trendy.”
June 27th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
I sometimes get the feeling the NYT is struggling to keep up. They come up with this stuff every once in a while. Print media is always a step behind. I suspect they want blogging to be a dying trend so bad it becomes apparent and obvious in their pieces. Well, I consider myself a writer and I won’t be going anywhere anytime soon boys. And from what I read and my own experience (I am part of an Internet business now) we’re only in the early stages of all this. I’m surprised they don’t see this.