Usage areas of the Internet

The Internet presents various advantages as an information channel, but many companies choose to use it for more than spreading information. It can also be used for several other purposes. (Jäger & Winberg) has introduced a model that presents the Internet’s usefulness as a market communications tool for the individual company. The vertical axis indicates how much of the medium the company utilises, i.e. the more usage areas used the more the company uses the medium. The horizontal axis shows that the number of companies that have prerequisites of using the different areas of usage decreases with the number of companies. A high degree of utilisation demands a higher degree of commitment from the organisation and management as well as a higher consumption of resources, than a low degree of utilisation.

Being able to give information is the most fundamental usage area of an Internet investment. We define it as a company’s possibility to give information to their customers through the Internet, in other words one-way- communication.

A web site can be adapted from just exposing large amounts of information to becoming an interactive medium. Except enabling the customer to view the company’s products, the customer is given an opportunity to communicate
with the company, i.e. two-way-communication. Information and communication are consequently the two areas where the company can use the Internet as a marketing channel.

To use the Internet as a sales channel is the third area mentioned. Today it is unusual that the actual sale is concluded on the Internet. This is especially true for complex products that involve big capital investment, like for
example cars. In articles referring to brokerage of cars on the Internet it is common that the process where the customer requests an offer from the dealer for a specific car is erroneously described as a sale. Today, no car sales transactions are concluded over the Internet. However, we categorise in this area also the measures that the company takes to bring the consumer closer to his/her buying decision, such as the possibilities to configure a car and to request an offer at the VolvoNet site.

In this area the customers role change from only being an information collector to influencing the production of his/her own product, giving the customer the role of partner or co-producer. For the company, this provides valuable information and assist the work of building a relation with the customer. (Wikström,1998)

The two next areas of usage involve payment and distribution over the Internet and are not applicable to the automotive industry today (and the latter will of course never be). Payment involves the transfer of money using the Internet. Today, there is no established standard for transferring money over the Internet in Sweden. When a standard for safe payment over the Internet is established this area of usage will become applicable to Volvo. Certain products, however, like information or computer software, are suitable for distribution over the Internet.

The figure below summarises VolvoNet’s potential use of the Internet with the prerequisites that exist today.

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