Some web-wise merchants have responded to Internet's new retail rules retailers by including comparison shopping on their own sites, others put their heads in sand. Leading list of slow to get online retailers is Home Depot who, according to Aug 16 issue of Fortune, recently issued "a Godfather-esque" directive to its suppliers selling goods online. The gist of it was stop selling online or you won't be selling to us.

"Dear Vendor," May 19 letter began, "It is important for you to be aware of Home Depot's current position on its'(sic) vendors competing with company via e-commerce direct to consumer distribution. We think it is short-sighted for vendors to ignore added value that our retail stores contribute to sale of their products....We recognize that a vendor has right to sell through whatever distribution channels it desires. However, we too have right to be selective in vendors we select and we trust that you can understand that a company may be hesitant to do business with its competitors."

What Home Depot really is worried about is its customers going straight to manufacturer and bypassing Home Depot.

Going head to head with Home Depot won't be simple for any company. Stanley Tools, for one, has scrapped its e-commerce plans in face of Home Depot's threat. After all, Home Depot is one of "category killers" who put thousands of mom and pop hardware stores out of business."Who's to say," Fortune reporter Katrina Brooker muses, "that it can't do same to pesky suppliers with dot.com dreams?" Web shoppers, that's who!

Several factors come into play: oOnline shopping does not provide instant gratification. Sometimes, all a customer wants is to buy something and use it right now oPeople are still willing to pay more for superior service, even online oFew retailers will be able (or want) long term, to sustain prices so low they cannot make a profit oAlthough low prices might bring customers to a site, discounts alone won't necessarily keep them there or convince them to return oOnline, a store that provides complete information from a variety of sources can be more valuable than a single site that provides only its own or partial information. Online comparison shopping is available at a wide range of sites. These sites promise "you'll never miss a sale again;" "40 - 60% off retail in 13 categories;" daily or weekly sales updates; and email bargain newsletters tailored to your shopping interests. Some claim to scan 50 million products. Each of these services is powered by shopping bot software. Some even provide shoppers with ability to search, compare and buy in a secure e-commerce environment. The majority accept advertising, but a few, like Price Scan claim to be unbiased and objective because they eschew advertising. Some online shoppers, no doubt, study information on these price comparison sites before they make a buying decision. Then there is everyone else.

While there were drastic social changes with massive shift from rural to urban living, there was little change in products produced and purchased. They only became more readily available at ever more modest cost.

Only later did Industrial Revolution produce something new - railroads. For first time in history, people could readily move great distances inexpensively. (Hauling freight came much later.) Railroads brought a thirty year boom in Europe, and an even longer one in United States. While many other parts of world got started somewhat later, boom did not end for them until outbreak of World War I.

What Will Arise From The Information Revolution?

The parallels between Industrial and Information Revolutions are astonishing. Thus far computers, Web, and information technology have created nothing dramatically new. They have merely changed ways in which information is gathered, managed and reported. And to some extent, way in which consumers purchase goods.

Computers themselves have changed way in which products are manufactured, including their design. And a few new spinoffs have come to fore. But there has not been anything revolutionary in any of this. Nothing yet has had impact of railroads on whole of social fabric.

If Drucker is correct, ecommerce will have an impact equivalent to that of railroads earlier. Thus far Web has produced less change in way business is done than ore cars running on steel rails effected mining. In short, real drama and excitement is yet to be revealed.

Given easy access to Web, you and I have been invited to join in. For myself, I don't want to miss a beat.

A Radical Shift Is Upon Us

There appears to be an awesome and exciting shift emerging in way business is done. There are those who feel that if it's good for business, it's good. Period. I hold a different view: If it's not good for people, it's not good.

Many with a business orientation are likely to abandon my thinking here. Those convinced people are sheep born to be shorn certainly will. But whatever your view, enormous changes in way in which business is done are rushing down upon us. Companies who do not embrace them, will be swept away into history.

What Will Customer Service Come To Mean?

For example, automated telephone systems and elevator music will fade away, as will companies that cling to such barriers. People will not be content much longer, with clutching a phone to their ear, trying to accomplish some other task, while waiting for answer they need right now.

"The customer comes first" will remain driving force behind all successful businesses. Today, such phrases mumbled by all are generally mere tokenism. Tomorrow they will come to have an entirely new meaning.