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Location Is (Still) Everything
Book

Location Is (Still) Everything

The Surprising Influence of the Real World on How We Search, Shop, and Sell in the Virtual One

David R. Bell
Amazon Publishing, 2014

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Online start-ups sometimes view the Internet as a discrete realm of opportunity, free of any real-world impediments to commerce. Wharton Business School professor David R. Bell argues that even online retailers must study their clientele’s real-life circumstances to be able to market to them successfully online. With such data, you’ll know whether to target rural areas where consumers yearn for choices or to cultivate city dwellers who share their experiences with friends and neighbors. This entertaining and often funny book is full of compelling findings that range from the blindingly self-evident to the head-scratchingly counterintuitive. Although Bell isn’t always specific about how a retailer might act on these findings, getAbstract recommends his research-driven insights to business professors and students, web entrepreneurs, investors and managers of traditional businesses with e-commerce operations.

Take-Aways

  • People in different locations use the Internet differently.
  • For example, online shopping appeals more to people who live far from stores, while city dwellers can shop conveniently near home.
  • Even online retailers must identify locations with consumers they can target.

About the Author

Wharton School of Business professor David R. Bell, PhD, researches retailing on the Internet and through other associated technologies. An angel investor in online ventures, he created Wharton’s first virtual-commerce course. A New Zealand native, he is a “fan of all things Kiwi.”

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