From MyVueNews.com

With more than half of Jamaica’s population having access to the Internet, the country is currently the third largest Internet user base in the Caribbean — a position which Sales Enablement Manager at Google Daniel O’Hara is urging Jamaican businesses to capitalise on.

O’Hara reported that in 2017 Jamaica recorded 1.5 million Internet users, which is 56 per cent of the 2.8 million people living in the country, up from the 1.1 million users recorded in 2011.

He also said Jamaica has 1.6 million mobile Internet users and ranked 12th out of 58 countries surveyed in the Internet Accessibility Index in 2017.

“This means more people are connecting to the Internet, it means more accessibility,” said O’Hara during his presentation at the Yello Media “DigiCon” conference held at Carib 5 cinema in Cross Roads, Kingston recently.

O’Hara, who was the last to present in the five speaker line-up, pointed out that this meant the Jamaican population had more accessibility to online products and services.

He encouraged local companies to adapt in order to serve online customers better, with swifter service and more accessibility to products via efficient online platforms.

O’Hara, at the same time, said a global increase in Internet accessibility has led to high expectations from users.

“We at Google have seen where search trends have changed from ‘restaurant near me’ to just ‘restaurant’because people expect that that search should bring up all the restaurants in the area automatically,” he noted.

The Google representative made the assertion that, coupled with technological advancement, the population’s increased usage of the Internet could also be as a result of a decrease in the cost of mobile Internet plans over the years.

He said that the lowest price for a monthly Internet of one gigabyte post-paid plan decreased from US$23.40 in 2011 to US$11.8 in 2018.

The lowest price for a one-day 100 megabyte Internet plan decreased from US$3.50 in 2011 to US$0.70 in 2016.

Meanwhile, manager of local business outreach at Yelp, John Carrol revealed that 97 per cent of consumers searched online for businesses in 2017.

Carrol also encouraged business owners to ensure that “your business has a free listing on Yello or a review site,” as this would help consumers to choose your product or service.

“Eight out of 10 people who are on a review site already have the intent to purchase,” he said.

He encouraged users to respond publicly to reviews left by customers as this would build brand visibility.

The Yello Media conference was aimed at local businesses, including small and medium businesses and gave insight on trends in digital marketing and how it could improve the profitability of businesses.

IMAGE: Jamaica Observer

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