【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 ter’s next big battleground as Google defends itself against challenges from Yahoo! and Microsoft. The other way to get noticed online is to offer goods and services through one of the big sites that already get a lot of traffic. Ebay, Yahoo! and Amazon are being huge trading platforms for other panies. But to take part, a pany’s products have to stand up to intense price petition. People check online prices, pare them with those in their local high street and may well take a peek at what customers in other countries are paying. Even if websites are prevented from shipping their goods abroad, there are plenty of webbased entrepreneurs ready to oblige. What is going on here is arbitrage between different sales channels, says Mohanbir Sawhney, professor of technology at the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. For instance, someone might use the inter to research digital cameras, but visit a photographic shop for a handson demonstration. “I’ll think about it,” they will tell the sales assistant. Back home, they will use a search engine to find the lowest price and buy online. In this way, consumers are “deconstructing the purchasing process”, says Professor Sawhney. They are unbundling product information from the transaction itself. It is not only price transparency that makes inter consumers so powerful。 it is also the way the makes it easy for them to be fickle. If they do not like a website, they swiftly move on. “The web is the most selfish environment in the world,” says Daniel Rosensweig, chief operating officer of Yahoo! “People want to use the inter whenever they want, how they want and for whatever they want.” Yahoo! is not alone in defining its strategy as working out what its customers (260m unique users every month) are looking for, and then trying to give it to them. The first thing they want is to bee better informed about products and prices. “We operate our business on that belief,” says Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive. Amazon became famous for books, but long ago branched out into selling lots of other things too。 among its latest ventures are health products, jewellery and gourmet food. Apart from cheap and bulky items such as garden rakes, Mr Bezos thinks he can sell most things. And so do the millions of people who use eBay. And yet nobody thinks real shops are finished, especially those operating in niche markets. Many bricksandmortar bookshops still make a good living, as do flea markets. But many record shops and travel agents could be in for a tougher time. Erik Blachford, the head of IAC’s travel side and boss of Expedia, the biggest inter travel agent, thinks online travel bookings in America could quickly move from 20% of the market to more than half. Mr Bezos reckons online retailers might capture 1015% of retail sales over the next decade. That would represent a massive shift in spending. How will traditional shops respond? Michael Dell, the founder of Dell, which leads the personalputer market by selling direct to the customer, has long thought many shops will turn into showrooms. There are already signs of change on the high street. The latest Apple and Sony stores are designed to display products, in the full expectation that many people will buy online. To some extent, the online and offline worlds may merge. Multichannel selling could involve a bination of traditional shops, a printed catalogue, a homeshopping channel on TV, a phonein order service and an emerceenabled website. But often it is likely to be the website where customers will be encouraged to place their orders. One of the biggest mercial advantages of the inter is a lowering of transaction costs, which usually translates directly into lower prices for the consumer. So, if the lowest prices can be found on the inter and people like the service they get, why would they buy anywhere else? One reason may be convenience。 another, concern about fraud, which poses the biggest threat to online trade. But as long as the inter continues to deliver price and product information quickly, cheaply and securely, emerce will continue to grow. Increasingly, panies will have to assume that customers will know exactly where to look for the best buy. This market has the potential to bee as perfect as it gets. Certain products or services appear more suitable for online sales。 others remain more suitable for offline sales. While credit cards are currently the most popular means of paying for online goods and services, alternative online payments will account for 26% of emerce volume by 2021 according to Celent. Many successful purely virtual panies deal with digital products, (including information storage, retrieval, and modification), music, movies, office supplies, education, munication, software, photography, and financial transactions. Examples of this type of pany include: Google, eBay and Paypal. Other successful marketers such as use Drop shipping or Affiliate