Amazon Breaks Through

Written by Rob Spiegel


Continued from page 1

The dot com crash blew away hundreds of ill-thought-out business models. Those left alive have a revitalized chance for success this year. The growth ofrepparttar Internet didn't pause through this recession. More people are online, more people are using high-speed connectivity, and more people are buying online. Even Internet ad sales grew throughrepparttar 109014 downturn, which is quite remarkable considering that an offline ad depression has delivered a body blow to print and broadcast media companies.

So we begin 2002 with fewer Internet companies, more Internet buyers and a larger Internet advertising pool. The final piece ofrepparttar 109015 picture, venture capital, will probably come later inrepparttar 109016 year. This will create a favorable environment for new Net launches or expansions by existing Internet companies. Certainly a good dose of skepticism will remain fromrepparttar 109017 brutal dot com crash, but a new dose of caution will probably help enhancerepparttar 109018 positive environment for growth. The Internet boom of 1999 and 2000 toppled in part because a lack of caution pushed capital into incompetent hands.

The question remains: who will benefit from a favorable online business climate? Duringrepparttar 109019 holiday season of 2001,repparttar 109020 big beneficiaries were major brick retailers such as Sears, Columbia House, Barnes and Noble, Toys 'R' Us. In part, it was because these companies had capital. New Internet companies had little to work with in promoting their business, sincerepparttar 109021 venture community sat onrepparttar 109022 sidelines during all of 2001.

This could change in 2002. Ifrepparttar 109023 venture capitalists invest in new online ventures, brick companies could get a run for their money. Chances are, with caution in place, venture money will go highly experienced management teams, perhaps defectors from successful online teams now living within major brick retailers.



Rob Spiegel is the author of Net Strategy (Dearborn) and The Shoestring Entrepreneur's Guide to Internet Start-ups (St. Martin's Press). You can reach Rob at spiegelrob@aol.com


The Silver Twinkle in Holiday 2001

Written by Rob Spiegel


Continued from page 1

According to Jupiter,repparttar Net retailers that sawrepparttar 109013 greatest increase in sales also have a brick component. Whilerepparttar 109014 Internet as a whole experienced a 50 percent increase in sales,repparttar 109015 traditional retailers saw their Web sales grow by 73 percent over 2000. "We've been waiting forrepparttar 109016 inevitable dominance of traditional retailers over their pure-play counterparts, and it appears that 2001 may have beenrepparttar 109017 year when it finally happened," said Ken Cassar, senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "With a few exceptions such as Amazon.com,repparttar 109018 dominant retailers that sell merchandise directly from their sites tend to be affiliated with brick-and-mortar stores and catalogs." The top three traditional retailers duringrepparttar 109019 holiday season were Columbia House, with 598,000 average daily unique visitors, Toysrus with 515,000 and Barnesandnoble with 447,000.

As well asrepparttar 109020 good news, there were also some less exciting developments duringrepparttar 109021 holiday season. The volume of orders that did not arrive on time for Christmas did not improve over 2000. Both years came in with a dismal 12 percent late delivery. The top performers for on-time delivery were sporting goods, health and beauty, and food and drink. Many online retailers blamed late shipments on delivery services. As for actual in-stock items, Net retailers actually did better thanrepparttar 109022 year before, so there may be some merit to their complains about delivery companies.

Overall,repparttar 109023 2001 holiday season was more than a silver lining aroundrepparttar 109024 dark cloud ofrepparttar 109025 2001 dot com disaster. The Christmas season may actually have ushered in a break inrepparttar 109026 stormy clouds, and that could indicate some real sunshine. Online retailing is clearly here to stay, even ifrepparttar 109027 big numbers are collecting onrepparttar 109028 balance sheets ofrepparttar 109029 major offline retailers.



Rob Spiegel is the author of Net Strategy (Dearborn) and The Shoestring Entrepreneur's Guide to Internet Start-ups (St. Martin's Press). You can reach Rob at spiegelrob@aol.com


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