The massive increase in eCommerce – the use of the Internet for commercial
transactions – has led to greater use of the Web by marketers, as described in Chapter 3.
Asmore and more households connect to the Internet through increasing numbers of connections,
worldwide confidence in using this medium for transactions is growing. This is
not uniform across all consumers. Just as with any new product (see Chapter 16), there are innovators,
early adopters and the early majority, while others are resistant to this new way of conducting
business, or simply do not have the equipment, expertise or available resources to hook up. Research
indicates, however, that there are signs that older consumers, the less affluent and the less
educated are accessing the Web. As an ingredient in the promotional mix, there is no doubt that the
Internet is of growing importance. While this is not yet true for all countries, it is a trend most
observers expect to continue. Because of growing global acceptance of the web eMarketing is
hugely important for exploiting global markets and international opportunities.