【正文】 mericans spent last year on buying cutprice prescription drugs from across the border in Canada.And there is more. The merce department’s figures include the fees earned by internet auction sites, but not the value of goods that are sold: an astonishing $24 billionworth of trade was done last year on eBay, the biggest online auctioneer. Nor, by definition, do they include the billions of dollarsworth of goods bought and sold by businesses connecting to each other over the internet. Some of these B2B services are proprietary。 for example, WalMart tells its suppliers that they must use its own system if they want to be part of its annual turnover of $250 billion.So emerce is already very big, and it is going to get much bigger. But the actual value of transactions currently concluded online is dwarfed by the extraordinary influence the internet is exerting over purchases carried out in the offline world. That influence is being an integral part of emerce.This has enormous implications for business. A pany that neglects its website may be mitting mercial suicide. A website is increasingly being the gateway to a pany’s brand, products and services—even if the firm does not sell online. A useless website suggests a useless pany, and a rival is only a mouseclick away. But even the coolest website will be lost in cyberspace if people cannot find it, so panies have to ensure that they appear high up in internet search results. For many users, a search site is now their point of entry to the internet. The bestknown search engine has already entered the lexicon: people say they have “Googled” a pany, a product or their plumber. The search business has also developed one of the most effective forms of advertising on the internet. And it is already the best way to reach some consumers: teenagers and young men spend more time online than watching television. All this means that search is turning into the internet’s next big battleground as Google defends itself against challenges fromYahoo! 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 internet 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”, It is not only price transparency that makes internet consumers so powerful。 it is also the way the net 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 internet whenever they want, how they want and for whatever they want.”How will traditional shops respond? Michael Dell, the founder of Dell, which leads thepersonalputer 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 internet 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 internet 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 internet 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 market has the potential to bee as perfect as it gets.中文譯文電子商務(wù)的發(fā)展真正的電子商務(wù)時(shí)代已經(jīng)到來(lái)Paul Markillie當(dāng)2000年科技泡沫爆發(fā)時(shí)，備受炒作的網(wǎng)上公 司好象隨之蒸發(fā)了，眾多的網(wǎng)上貿(mào)易也被迫流產(chǎn)。劫后余生網(wǎng)上公司無(wú)一不緊縮商務(wù)，好在與日俱增的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶在激勵(lì)著他們。現(xiàn)在，對(duì)網(wǎng)上公司的評(píng)價(jià)又有所提 高了，但工商界還是謹(jǐn)慎地評(píng)價(jià)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的潛能。盡管如此，有人已大膽的預(yù)言：世界上大量經(jīng)濟(jì)巨頭不久都會(huì)以某種方 式移師電腦空間。據(jù)商務(wù)部不完全統(tǒng)計(jì)表明，去年網(wǎng)上零售額增加了26%，達(dá)到550億美元。這聽(tīng)起來(lái)的確是一個(gè)很大的數(shù)目，%。大部分的成年消費(fèi)者依然習(xí)慣于到“磚+混凝土”（bricksandmortar）的世界里消費(fèi)。其實(shí)商務(wù)部公布的數(shù)字僅涉及部 分產(chǎn)業(yè)。例如，該數(shù)字雖然包括了網(wǎng)上旅游服務(wù)，這一電子商務(wù)界最成功也是增長(zhǎng)最快的行業(yè)之一。IAC (InterActiveCorp)， 和 ，去年僅它一家就有100億美元的營(yíng)業(yè)額，包括航空業(yè)、賓館業(yè)、出租車(chē)公司在內(nèi)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手去年網(wǎng)上營(yíng)業(yè)總額也有大幅攀 升，但這些網(wǎng)上營(yíng)業(yè)額攀升的企業(yè)在商務(wù)部的數(shù)字中并未得到體現(xiàn)。另外，商務(wù)部的數(shù)字雖然包括了拍 賣(mài)網(wǎng)站的利潤(rùn)，卻沒(méi)有包含所拍賣(mài)成交貨物的價(jià)值在內(nèi)，據(jù)估算，其價(jià)值高達(dá)數(shù)百億美元。去年僅eBay這家最大的拍賣(mài)網(wǎng)站出手的貨物價(jià)值就高達(dá)240億美 元。按照商務(wù)部的界定，數(shù)十億美元的成交貨物總價(jià)值是沒(méi)有包括其中的，況且很多B2B模式的商貿(mào)形為都是不公開(kāi)的，例如WalMart公司就明確地告誡 其供貨商，若想成為其2500億美元的營(yíng)業(yè)額的一部分，必需采用自己的運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)體系。由以上數(shù)字可以看出，電子商務(wù)已是很有規(guī)模了，并且正在發(fā)展壯大。但是網(wǎng)上交易額正受到離線交易的沖擊，而離線交易又是電子商務(wù)的一個(gè)重要組成部分。網(wǎng)站建設(shè)對(duì)商業(yè)行為來(lái)說(shuō)意義重 大。一個(gè)不注重網(wǎng)站建設(shè)的公司無(wú)異于是在商戰(zhàn)中自殺。即便公司并不從事網(wǎng)上交易，網(wǎng)站也會(huì)成為人們了解其商標(biāo)、產(chǎn)品及服務(wù)的門(mén)戶。在電腦空間，一個(gè)無(wú)價(jià)值 的網(wǎng)站往往預(yù)示著一個(gè)無(wú)價(jià)值的公司，他只會(huì)在人們的鼠標(biāo)點(diǎn)擊下被無(wú)情舍棄。所以一個(gè)成功的公司一定要建成一個(gè)優(yōu)秀的網(wǎng)站，以確保它能出現(xiàn)在每次搜索結(jié)果的 前列。對(duì)很多用戶而言，一個(gè)搜索站點(diǎn) 往往是他們進(jìn)入互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的切入點(diǎn)。全球知名的搜索引擎早已進(jìn)入當(dāng)代詞典：人們會(huì)說(shuō)他“Google”了一個(gè)公司，一個(gè)產(chǎn)品或是一個(gè)管道工。這種搜索行為也成 為了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上最有成效的廣告途徑之一。并且這也是接近青少年這一