Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak, "A New Marketing Paradigm for Electronic Commerce," (October 1996).
Abstract. The World Wide Web possesses unique characteristics which distinguish it in important ways from traditional commercial communications environments. Because the Web presents a fundamentally different environment for marketing activities than traditional media, conventional marketing activities are becoming transformed, as they are often difficult to implement in their present form. In this paper, we assert that these changes portend an evolution in the "marketing concept" and argue that in order for marketing efforts to be successful in this new medium, a new business paradigm is required in which the marketing function is reconstructed to facilitate electronic commerce in the emerging electronic society underlying the Web. Download pdf.
See also the February 1996 earlier working paper.
Novak, Thomas P. and Donna L. Hoffman, "New Metrics for New Media: Toward the Development of Web Measurement Standards," (September 1996).
This paper appears in print as: Novak, T.P. and D.L. Hoffman (1997), "New Metrics for New Media: Toward the Development of Web Measurement Standards," World Wide Web Journal, Winter, 2(1), 213-246. Download pdf.
Hoffman, Donna L., WIlliam D. Kalsbeek, and Thomas P. Novak, "Internet and Web Use in the United States: Baselines for Commercial Development," (July 1996).
Abstract. Tapping the enormous potential of the Internet as a commercial medium and market is proving to be challenging. Computer-mediated environments like the World Wide Web on the Internet are not well understood and possess unique characteristics which distinguish them in significant ways from traditional, physically-bound targets of opportunity. Electronic commerce, as a research area, a business and investment opportunity, and an entire new industry, is in its infancy. There is a great deal of uncertainty in this complex commercial environment, and very little solid information on which to base critical business decisions.
A wide variety of studies have suggested that the demographic characteristics of individuals are highly correlated with their use of the Internet. For example, previous research suggests that current Internet use is related to gender, education, income, race, occupation, and even geographic region, with some of the general conclusions being that males are more likely than females to use the Net, people with higher socioeconomic status are more likely to use the Net, and whites are more likely to use the Net (see, for example, Times Mirror 1995; Yankelovich Partners 1995). Recent research also suggests that the demographics of Internet use are shifting over time, with the result that the Internet appears to be going more "mainstream" in its demographic makeup and that this trend is likely to continue as the Internet moves toward critical mass as a commercial medium (Hoffman 1996).
Our objectives are twofold: 1) provide interested parties - consumers, market researchers, Internet-based business interests, investors, the media, and policymakers - with the accurate baseline numbers and marketing insights necessary to aid decision-making and stimulate inquiry in this complex and rapidly changing environment, and 2) demonstrate the difficulties and indeterminancies inherent in estimating a complex and moving target. Download pdf.
Download appendix containing supplemental tables.
The April 1996 working paper is an earlier, longer draft, which includes additional technical details not present in the final published version
