Web sites, software and national directories for funeral homes. Online obituaries and videos to preserve a loved one's memory. Death is a burgeoning industry in cyberspace. It's all designed to help customers in a difficult time while increasing profits for funeral providers, Clarkson said. But we think this takes the cold out and still leaves the personal part in,'' he said.
Many companies also create special memorials to the deceased.
About 35,000 caskets were sold via the Internet last year, only a fraction of the 1.8 million coffins sold overall during that time, said spokesman Ronald Troyer. But Troyer, a 31-year veteran of the business, said he expects technology to bring more changes as aging baby boomers, comfortable with computers, begin to ponder the inevitable. The increase in nontraditional funeral service providers has prompted the funeral directors group to push for stronger federal controls. The 14,000-member association wants tighter regulation on Internet companies, wholesale casket sellers and cemeteries that also provide caskets, said Kelly Smith, another association spokesman. The Federal Trade Commission requires funeral homes to provide a written copy of a general price list to customers.