E-Advertising Short Term Future The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reports that US online advertising generated $1.79 billion in revenue in Q3 2001, representing a 4.1% decline from the $1.87 billion generated in Q2. The IAB reports that online ad revenue for the first three quarters of 2001 totaled $5.55 billion, down 8.4% versus the same period in 2000. US Online Ad Revenue By Industry (% of ad revenue) +---------------------+------+------+ | | Q2 | Q3 | | | 2001 | 2001 | +---------------------+------+------+ | Consumer | 30% | 29% | | Computing | 18 | …

What Are Holiday Shoppers Looking For? Consumer Reports, in a special holiday online report, summarized several studies discussing anticipated consumer behavior during the next few weeks. They point out consumer focus this holiday season will be on value. According to Forrester Research shoppers will spend a record $11 billion dollars online this year, but instead of buying expensive gifts online shoppers will stick to more affordable items like books and CDs and less expensive gifts for kids. Online sales of toys alone are expected to increase more than 15 percent over the same six-month period last year. Consumer confidence …

Focus On The Customer According to an Accenture study conducted to gauge business leaders’ outlooks on 2002, 91 percent of executives said a greater focus on customer service and building customer loyalty is critically important for weathering the economic downturn as well as strategically positioning for its eventual upswing. According to the survey, thirty-eight percent of the executives surveyed in Fortune 1000 firms say CRM is their first choice for a top business strategy or technology for 2002. 26 percent placed new product development first, 17 percent picked enterprise resource management, and 15 percent supply chain management. David …

Health Has No Ethnic Boundries CyberAtlas recently reported on a new survey, "Generation Rx.com," by the Kaiser Family Foundation that found that most teens and young adults have gone online, but differences in access across racial and socio-economic lines still exist. Signs of a digital divide appear as the numbers are examined by ethnic group. One in four Hispanic youths has never gone online, compared to just 6 percent of white youth and 13 percent of African-American youth. Eighty percent of all white respondents have Internet access from home, compared to 66 percent of African-Americans and 55 percent of Hispanics. …

Super Chat or Cross Media Communications? Jupiter Media Metrix reports that the total time using instant messaging jumped 110% at work and 48% at home over the same time last year. The recently released report shows that that the total number of minutes spent at work in the US (using the top three brands of instant-messaging applications) jumped: - from 2.3 billion minutes in September 2000 to 4.9 billion in September 2001. The number of unique users of instant-messaging applications at work increased 34%: - from 10.0 million in September 2000 to 13.4 million in September 2001. The …

Give Me Advertising, If You Must All is not perfect in the e-retailing world, according to a recent survey of online shoppers by Retail Forward. Many online shoppers surveyed identify both frustrating aspects of the online shopping experience as well as possible improvements online retailers could implement. And, a sizable percentage of online shoppers no longer visit or shop infrequently at specific sites because of frustrating shopping experiences in the past. - 64% of online shoppers report being satisfied with their shopping experiences at online shopping sites. - Online shoppers between the ages of 45-54 are more likely …

Soft Bounce At the annual Media Week conference recently, Robert J. Coen, senior vice president and director of forecasting at Interpublic Group, Universal McCann, said advertising spending will be slow coming back, despite a first quarter boost by the 2002 winter Olympics and upcoming mid-term elections. Coen said U.S. ad spending will drop 4.1% this year to to $233.7 billion, from $243.7 in 2000, and will climb back only 2.4% to $239.3 billion in 2002. Big advertisers should look for bargains on media buys in this slow period, he said. Both Coen and John Perriss, chief executive of Zenith …

The Contemporary Intruder A recently released Cyveillance study reveals that a high prevalence of aggressive technology tactics on the Internet's top 100 destinations can entangle and divert shoppers. The study reports that these tactics are highly disruptive to the customer and expose them to content they would otherwise not have elected to view. "Over 25% of top destination sites are now using one of these 10 (identified) tactics in an apparent attempt to divert and capture shoppers," said Brian Murray, senior director of client services, Cyveillance. 30% of top sites in the U.S., 20% of top sites in European …

Protect Me, But Do It Quick If your marketing strategy is likely to intrude on the privacy of the customer, it's important to note the results of a new consumer survey released by Harris Interactive. While large majorities of Americans concede that privacy notices are important, most people also find them too long and complicated, according to the study. The key findings showed that: - 77% of respondents favored a short, concise privacy policy - 70% of respondents agreed that all companies "should use the same summary or checklist for their privacy policies" - over 50% identified six separate …

Cautiously Optimistic Erosion A recent release by Rex Nutting, Washington Bureau Chief of CBS.MarketWatch, pointed out that the Conference Board's monthly index, which has fallen five months in a row, fell to 82.2 in November from 85.3 in October. The index read 132.6 a year ago. Economists expected a slight increase to 86.2. While consumers are increasingly pessimistic about the current economic situation, they are growing more hopeful about the economy six months ahead. The consumer confidence index closely tracks the unemployment rate: when consumers have jobs, they feel hopeful. "Rising unemployment and continuing layoff announcements are dampening confidence," …