Communication beats ecommerce

Jan 02 2001: Emails and ecards proved more popular than ecommerce during the Christmas holiday season in the US, according to the Pew Internet Project. The findings came from their latest report: ‘The holidays online: emails and e-greetings outpace e-commerce'. Almost 53 percent of US Internet users (over 51 million people) sent emails to their relatives and friends to talk about the holidays or make plans. High-income households and people with college degrees were the most likely to have used email for this purpose. Almost 32 percent of Internet users (over 30 million people) sent ecards to their loved ones or friends. This type of online activity was very popular with Hispanic Internet users—45 percent of them sent holiday greetings. Crafts and recipe details were obtained from the Web by 24 percent (over 22 million people) of Internet users. Parents with children under the age of 18 were the most likely to look for such information. Meanwhile, 24 percent of Internet users also purchased gifts on the Internet. These consumers were likely to have possessed college degrees and salaries in the USD75,000 bracket. According to the Pew Internet Project, the Internet continues to be used as a communications and information seeking tool rather than a commercial one.