Card issuers are now lining up to enter the information superhighway via the Internet’s World Wide Web. This is clearly the hot potato of 1995 led by some of the most aggressive issuers who have already set up camp on the mother of all computer networks, the Internet. First Union (Jan), Capital One (Feb), First USA (Apr), and AT&T Universal (May) have been taking card applications on their Web sites for several months. This month, Bank of Hawaii, BayBank, Compass Bank and First Commerce joined the Internet credit card marketing crowd.
Why the mad dash to go cyber ?
Twelve months ago connecting to the World Wide Web was a bit intimidating for the average consumer. The popular commercial on-line services America Online, Prodigy, Delphi and CompuServe now provide user friendly (and low cost) gateways to the Internet. Approximately twelve million users of such services now have easy Internet access. Furthermore the very recent release of Microsoft’s Windows 95 with built-in Internet access could eventually open the floodgates for hundreds of millions of consumers.
Besides the sheer number of potential customers with demonstrated buying power there are other reasons banks are slowly but surely falling in love with the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web:
It’s pretty and it has potential.
Of all the ways to utilize the Internet, the World Wide Web is by far the sexiest since it provides a way to display color graphics and a way to link to other sites worldwide. Banks can preserve a consistent image while projecting a global presence. Once security issues are settled banks can expand Web sites to provide an entire menu of on-line financial services, far beyond just hawking credit card offers.
For now the power of the World Wide Web is best harnessed by creating graphical sites that provide information and resource linking. Card issuers can establish a Web presence but there is little incentive for consumers to access such sites unless they are directed to the card issuers site in an informational context.
The Internet is vast, comprised of more than 15,000 networks, millions of computers spread over many countries. Creating a Web site is a fairly easy task but without the linkage to other sites, aggressive promotion, usage incentives, and the resolve to pr.ply maintain the content, the Web power will quickly dissipate into cyberspace.
Therefore CardWeb, Inc., the parent firm of this publication, is announcing this month the creation of a bank credit card Web site providing not only extensive consumer education but the capability of linking consumers, card issuers, industry vendors and reporters together into one central super site.
For the past ten years RAM has dispensed consumer education through the pages of CardTrak and related publications, distributed competitive information to card issuers, generated business referrals to industry vendors and offer marketplace perspective/statistics to the media. Now this established, credible source of bank credit card information can bring all these elements together under one high profile Web site, a virtual SuperSite accessible worldwide via Internet address: http://www.cardweb.com.
RAM’s site is not a novelty, it is a serious investment to disseminate bank card related information on a daily basis and provide global linkage to as many resources as possible. Part of the full commitment includes the introduction of a daily news service called CardFlash, a powerful research tool called CardSearch and CardLocator, and usage incentives via CardWatch and CardGame. A full description of the new Web services offered through the new RAM Research Web sit e can be found on pages three and four of this newsletter.
For consumers the best part of RAM’s new Web site is the free, unlimited access. The funding to provide this important service flows exclusively from issuer display advertising on the CardWeb feature and from vendor sponsorship of other web features.
For card issuers already on the Web, RAM Research’s site offers high traffic exposure to consumers and the media as well as in depth usage tracking. For card issuers not on the Web, RAM Research’s Web site offers the capability of quickly creating a Web presence without the technical and logistical hassle of constructing a high capacity Internet site. Currently AFBA Industrial Bank and Wachovia Bank have card product documents stored within RAM’s site and accessible to consumers through the CardWeb feature. Both issuers may launch their own sites later.
For the card associations, card processors and vendors RAM’s web site provides the channel to communicate their message in a highly efficient manner and the opportunity to sponsor meaningful consumer credit education.
For the media, RAM’s Web site offers a major resource for industry information and perspective and best of all, a resource that is available on-demand from just about anywhere on the planet.
RAM Research will announce its Web site launch from the New York City Hilton & Towers during the American Bankers Association National Bankcard Conference, September 10-13. A national twenty-five city tour is planned for next month.
