We were told that the internet would change forever the way we buy things. But over the past year we’ve watched as scores of consumer dot com companies have gone down.
Was the whole notion of online retailing a bad idea — or are there only certain kinds of things that we’ll buy online and others that we’ll only buy after we touch, feel, and test? Consumers are concerned about punching in their credit cards online – about identity theft and privacy – E-tailers are finding their savings from forgoing retail space being eaten up by the need for big distribution centers and fulfillment staffs.
Meanwhile – the brick and mortar dinosaurs are finally getting to the new market – bringing decades of experience and recognized brands to the online mix… Who is the E-shakeout going to leave standing? The future of consumer commerce on the internet, here.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Mary Modahl, Senior analyst with Forrester Research
Tom Eizanmann, Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School, boardmember of OneMain.com, one of the nation’s ten largest Internet service providers
Mark Goldstein, CEO of Blue Light, the online affiliate of Kmart.