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By Knight Kiplinger

The Kiplinger Washington Editors

July 2, 2009

By year-end or so, Congress will give the nod to a major rewriting of the nation's financial regulatory system. This week’s Kiplinger Letter explores whether the package will do more harm than good and what lawmakers are likely to include.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: The Economy, Business Costs, Taxes, Supreme Court, Energy, Workplace Regulations, Climate Change, Health Care Legislation and Foreign Policy

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I just attended a franchise seminar. The speaker represents a few hundred franchises that (he says) are hand picked. He has the prospect (aka victim?) answer some questions about themselves then he makes recomendations - based on your personality, capital situation, etc.. If you pick a franchise, then he does some due dilligence for you. If you both decide it's a good idea, he helps you get started. He says he offers this service free of charge, which means he gets a commission if he's able to sell you a franchise. Has anyone done this? Successfully? Unsuccessfully?

-- fender

The Internet Is More a Tool, Less a Mall

Shoppers rely heavily on the Internet for information when shopping, but often make their purchases offline.

Worth Reading: The Quick Take from Kiplinger

May 2008

John B. Horrigan

Pew Internet & American Life Project

John B. Horrigan, associate director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, studies the online behavior of broadband internet users and consumers of other leading edge information technology. He also leads Pew's research on the Internet's impact on people's social networks and newsgathering habits.

The project aims to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the internet through collection of data and analysis of real-world developments as they affect the virtual world. It is one of eight projects that make up the Pew Research Center.

Things on the Internet never quite seem to be as simple as they appear. Shopping is no different. Despite a huge increase in Internet shopping in recent years and the perception that savvy online users shop there frequently, the Internet is really just a shopping tool to many -- not a mall.

"As useful as online information might be in the shopping journey, users' reliance on multiple sources indicates that buyers use the Internet in tactical ways," says a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "… However, the Internet is not usually the major factor that influences the final decision."

Pew notes that some of the hesitancy may be due in part to concerns about online security. But by studying the buying habits of people shopping for three distinct types of products -- music, cell phones and real estate -- the project concluded that shoppers use the Internet as just one of several sources for gathering information and making a decision.

Pew looked at four aspects of Internet shopping, search, influence, participation and "disintermediation" (whether the Internet connects shoppers more directly and cheaply with retailers than traditional ways of shopping). What it found will be useful to businesses seeking to understand the process that many shoppers go through before they show up at their store or Web site with wallet in hand:

• Search: Online information can make product research more efficient and that can be particularly useful for a feature-rich product. But it is not the only tool buyers use to gather information.

• Influence: Online information is generally modest in its impact on decisions, but looms larger when a purchase requires a big commitment.

• Participation: Rating products after purchase is surprisingly rare, but much larger percentages of the online users surveyed (about a quarter of music buyers, half of cell phone buyers and a quarter of real estate shoppers) read such reviews and comments as part of their research.

• Disintermediation: When it comes time to make the transaction, it is still an offline world. But fewer barriers between buyers and sellers can help consumers get better deals.

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