30 Years of the internet

Way back when…

Thirty years ago, when PETS International was founded, the internet was still unknown. In 1996, we published our very first article on the internet: explaining what it was and how it could be advantageous to business. Online shopping was possible, be it in a very basic form.

The first steps 

In the good old days, it was newsworthy if a company launched its homepage. Amazon.com was an early player, launching its online store in 1994. Zooplus made its first, tentative steps on the internet in 1999. From the outset, the site had a strong European focus. Although Amazon and Zooplus both grew fast it was the firm belief that, although here to stay, internet’s impact would be small.

Fast forward: 30 years on

Today internet is the shaker and mover of all of our lives. With online becoming the standard for everything we do, new ways of working have also emerged. Internet is the carrier of many new services such as email, social media and hosted services. It is also the place where organisations gather data and are causing a major upheaval in the retail landscape. In fact, many companies – such as Facebook and Google – have become wholly dependent on data. But, more is set to change. 

What the future will bring

In the coming years, the internet will enable the inception of new products and services that will fundamentally change our lives. Here are a number of such disruptive changes.

1. Shop retail is not dying, but a painful transition has begun!

The mature millennials have mixed shopping behaviours. Brick and mortar experiences – 

as well as physical, on-site interactions – are extremely important to this group. Shops will digitise their physical infrastructure and roll out new store features and formats based on customer experience and convenience, all with a strong digital flavour.

2. The consumerisation of b-to-b

Many b-to-b buyers and users will experience their first frictionless, b-to-c like purchasing and ordering experience as they continue the transition of their product discovery and buying behaviours to online and mobile. Everything from print catalogues to sales calls are being replaced by a digital-first discovery process and a buyer-centric, simplified ordering process.

This ease of ordering/easy-to-do-business-with interaction will lead to increased ordering and share of the budget for the vendors who put the user at the very heart of the buying experience.

3. Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality will become huge, as brands roll out features that allow consumers to use their mobile devices to visualise items in their home or office, before purchasing. What about pet products?

4. The new measure of the retailer’s digital success

Retailers will now know how many dollars of in-store sales are attributable to every dollar spent on digital, thanks to a reliable attribution model between digital and in-store: ROPO Ratios (Research Online, Purchase Offline).