Does Your Business Include eFamilies?

Why it should Include Internet Centered Families

The Web and computers spread across the landscape, changing our culture and habits forever. Established patterns that served well for decades are being disrupted and re-shaped. Television, once the prized trophy of most dens and family rooms, is being supplanted by computers and the Web.

The convergence of television, telephone, video, audio, and computers together with text based media has been slowly gaining ground. Look at many of the media center PC's gaining market share. The inescapable conclusion is that more and more eFamily activity revolves around the computer.

eFamilies, as an example, have been deeply affected by the Web. They no longer grab a newspaper to hunt for specials or discounted items. Driving around from one retail establishment to the next is a thing of the past. eFamilies will search the Web first and look for sales information there. Once they find what they're looking for, they'll order it; the last thing they do is crank up the car!

Many consumer commodities can be purchased online AND delivered to your door for much less than any retail establishment. Items like medicines, vitamins, music, books, niche products, herbs and spices are huge sellers on the Web. Of course, there are traditional Web products consisting of digital downloads, such as: music, video and eBooks.

Services are another big eFamily item; everything from home decorating, financial services, tax preparation, home loans, virtual assistants, etc. When you consider the growing number of folks working from home or telecommuting, the list of services demanded by eFamilies will grow exponentially.

As the generations move on and children are schooled as digital Neticens, the overwhelming dominance of eFamilies will be a de facto reality. Those future graduates will come to consider "the workplace" as more of a function than a specific location. Many will choose a corner of the den as their business command post.

Your business should include a Web component to cater to the needs of eFamilies. It doesn't matter that it's a local business.
Your Web presence can be tailored to channel your advertising to the local area. Best of all would be to expand and ship items beyond your area. The gains from sales to new customers will far exceed the cost of expansion.

The digital revolution is shaking things up a bit. The race belongs not to those that long for the past, but to those that embrace the future. We are living in an age of technological upheaval that only the fittest will survive. Your business must get to know the eFamily! As a survival tactic, can you do otherwise?

by Francisco Aloy

(C)2005 Francisco Aloy

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