They want to kill the internet (11-04-2005)

After at least six years to spread the Internet,

it is time to be reviewed and made an analysis of its evolution.

... "Witnessed in the United States to the dotcom boom of the calls and also to its decline" ...

Although it has been announced as a new way of doing business in the United States, for example, saw the boom of calls Dotcom, but also, in most cases, to their decline.

After the "storm" today we can say that the Internet has mainly benefit the "old economy" because it is true that some companies sell well in the "new economy", I remind myself of Amazon , Google , etc.. in Indeed, were the old economy companies that benefited most, as it gained a new distribution channel that enables them to reach a larger number of consumers, breaking down geographic barriers and costs much lower than traditional channels.

Still, a good part of the Portuguese companies of the "old" economy - remember that? those who left benefited from the Internet - have not yet agreed to this benefit.

Just see what is broadcast by Media, spent more than a home where tradition stands the only consumer purchases online until they had the right to airtime. In 2004, more than any other year, online sales growths of 50% compared to 2003. Notwithstanding this, if we think we know who shops online, quickly concluded that the supply in Portugal is very low and service provided there is very weak and little is safeguarding the consumer.

From my point of view, there is no reference website for online shopping in Portugal (I refer to a Portuguese website), there is only one set of old economy companies who deigned to do some page with the image of your company and downloaded on the World Wide Web to be able to tell it's there.

I can even agree that the low sales volume of this channel is not attractive and therefore limit investment by businesses in this area, but certainly not companies take the initiative, Users / Customers are unlikely to come to meet him. It is therefore necessary for successful symbiosis of the channel.

company has five models of the same product on the Internet only have access to see one or two. We do not have access to other products that the brand will have that up and eventually will be available in the physical store of the company. Of products available, a large majority do not have enough information essential to the purchase. Moreover, in the overwhelming majority of sites, there is no guarantee that we intend to stock the product, much less lead times, not to mention the high costs of shipping.

In this Christmas season now, was curious to make a comparison between the Portuguese and foreign sites sites that have the operative set up to easily sell to Portugal. I can tell you that it was frustrating to see the announcement that one of the sites Portuguese, orders placed after December 21 had no guarantee of delivery before Christmas and one of these foreign sites, announced with great emphasis that orders placed until December 22, had to guarantee delivery until the 24th. If to this we add the fact that prices in these foreign sites, are in many cases, 30% to 40% lower than those in Portugal, easily see that there is no competition.

The opportunity that the Internet has brought our country to highlight and gain economic advancement compared to other countries, we looked at it as a side but had nothing to do with us. Foreign companies have won an opportunity to enter our market without even needing to settle in the country.

Admittedly, the problem comes back. When we spend time discussing a false liberalization of telecommunications instead of discussing how best to provide access to the Internet, so massificated users and allow this economic engine progresses, everything is said.

Even I can admit that in some cases, investments have only return in the longer term, but still have to mentalize that sooner or later this will be the main channel of business, and foreign companies are already there.

Yesterday (4/11/2005), I heard the news that the EU will produce a set of directives that encourage the use of broadband Internet on the Electrical Network, now known as Powerline which practically reaches everywhere, thus contributing to a further increase in mass of the Internet. Let's see how long it takes Portugal to adapt to this new reality ...