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I just heard some talking head state that last year’s increase in online holiday purchases was because of bad weather and high gas prices.

What are they going to blame it on next year? Halley’s comet?

Hello! One thing has NOTHING to do with the other. It was 85 degrees in Miami, and people were buying online. If gas were 50 cents a gallon, people would still be buying more online.

It’s called reality.

Wake up and smell the Web sites. Online purchases are going to increase FOREVER. The experts trying to deny the inevitable are the ones with rotary dial telephones who are “thinking about” getting a laptop. Or businesses with their head in the sand, like fax machine manufacturers and phone book printers.

The question is NOT why are more online sales occurring – that is the most obvious answer on the We Want It Now planet. The question is: WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO GET YOUR SHARE?

What can I buy from you, what can you inform me of that has value to me, what can you do to make my life easier and better, what can you do to entice me, how easy can you make it for me, and how can I trust you enough for me to enter my credit card number and pull the trigger to purchase?

Think about the things you have purchased online in the past year. You wanted something or needed something that did not have a today deadline, and you went to www.something.com and bought.

AND you’re probably doing it more often than you ever did. Convenience, availability, ease of purchase, fits your time frame and you trust the seller.

AND if your need is greater or more urgent, many sellers offer overnight delivery.

AND isn’t it fun when the package arrives? Almost like Christmas in July.

Let’s go back to why and get to the root cause. People trust the Internet more than ever. Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and other search engines have made the Internet the FIRST place you go to get information. Anything from an airline schedule to the weather. Anything from the date, time and place that Mickey Mantle hit his 536th home run to the perfect recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Anything you sell in your store or business can be purchased online. The only question is: from whom?

The Internet is now a TRUSTED resource for information, and purchase follows trust.

Think about your last automobile purchase. Did you go online to get information BEFORE you bought the car? Of course you did!

If you can gain all this information so easily, why not just make the purchase online? And so you do.

Each year, more computer-literate people enter the purchasing marketplace. They understand the immediacy and power that the Internet provides.

The new generation of kids entering the consumer marketplace thinks of the Internet as THE place to purchase stuff. They don’t care about the weather, and the price of gasoline is not going to affect their desire to purchase online – their decision to buy online is based on personal choice and convenience.

REALITY: All brick-and-mortar stores have “hours of operation.” The Internet doesn’t. Internet hours of operation are 24-7-365.

I buy stuff at midnight. I buy more and more stuff online. So does everyone. It’s the new reality. And getting more real by the click.

The only question you have to ask yourself is: What are you doing about it? How is your business taking advantage of it, and how prepared are you to capture your share of it?

My Web site underwent its fifth transformation this past year. We improved everything, including making it easier to purchase. We added video descriptions for every product and made the customer experience more informative and more fun. The result of my six-figure investment? Online sales have doubled.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2008 Jeffrey H. Gitomer