Online Expert Rips Unprofitable Internet, Offers Solutions…
“…At a recent online conference, one of the leading experts in global electronic commerce, took the Net to task for its serious deficiencies as a place to conduct commerce. Even suggesting that other networks may some day replace it – unless the Internet gets its act together. Participating on a panel at the SIMBA Online Conference called Transforming the Web: From Hyperplace to Marketplace, William B. Seebeck, managing director of Grant/Seebeck International, said what was undoubtedly on many people’s minds: ‘Clients want to know, ‘When am I going to get my money back?’ The answer, Seebeck said, is that “it’s not going to be easy.” Most of the revenue in global electronic commerce is concentrated currently in business-to-business online services, such as LEXIS/NEXIS, Dow Jones, NewsNet, Reuters, Financial Times Profile, and Dun & Bradstreet, Seebeck pointed out, which account for 93 percent of the market right now, or $18 billion annually. ‘Until or unless these services move to the Internet,’ Seebeck said, ‘we don’t expect to see a large return for any company on the Internet.’…Seebeck did offer solutions, the actions he believed were required for the Internet to become profitable. (See p. 6 for Seebeck’s “Top 10” List)….Seebeck said that ad agencies viewed the Internet as another communications medium, and more and more companies are offering information on it…’The result is that the Internet is becoming more of an advertising medium than an interactive sales transaction mecca,’ he said. ‘The three companies to watch in the future are the three satellite networks – CyberStar (Loral Corporation), Spaceway (Hughes/GM) and Teledesic (Bill Gates/Craig McCaw),’ Seebeck said. ‘They in fact may become the real interactive network.’
Interactive PR, December 4-20, 1995
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