The Foundation for Rural Service recently published a report – A Cyber Economy: The Transactional Value of the Internet in Rural America. They surveyed 1,200 user to answer a few questions:
- How frequently do U.S. consumers use the internet for various transactional purposes—shopping, checking their bank accounts and investments, paying bills, etc.?
- To what degree do those transactions end up driving actual spending?
- What is the estimated dollar amount that can be attributed to internet-based transactions?
- With respect to U.S. urban and rural markets, where does that economic activity occur?
Here are their key findings
- Internet usage among urban and rural consumers was largely similar.
- Rural consumers are responsible for more than 10.8 billion internet-driven transactions annually out of a total of 69.9 billion annual internet-driven transactions, representing 15% of all internet-driven transactions.
- Internet-driven transactions drive nearly 50% of United States gross domestic product (GDP) or $9.6 trillion annually. These transactions are estimated to grow to over 65% by 2022 to $14 trillion annually.
- The estimated value of rural online transactions is nearly $1.4 trillion—14% of all internet-driven transactions, or 7% of the U.S. nominal GDP.
It’s an interesting report – who buys what where online. There’s a lot to check out – one interesting note – the market for online transactions and spending is growing…
