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MAKE IT SIMPLE
The key to the widespread adoption of electronic commerce
is to make the services as simple and useful as possible, said Raymond
R. Burke, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School, Boston, Mass.
Burke says Television caught on because designers made it simple—with
one knob for volume and another for channels.
Even the simplest form of electronic commerce, the automatic teller
machine is too complicated for many consumers, Burke asserts. He says
about 30% of customers use the machines for most of their banking, while
a larger 40% do not use the machines at all.
This could explain why electronic commerce accounts for only a small
fraction of U.S. retail sales so far. Total U.S. retail sales are about
$2.1 trillion, with only about $60 billion of that through catalog and
television and direct mail, Burke said. Electronic retailing is $3 billion,
just 0.14 percent of total. About 45% of Americans have purchased items
through catalogs, but only 7% through television.
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