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With
each new dot.com failure, those on the outside of the boom rub
their hands with glee. Sites like Fuckedcompany and Netslaves
greet each new failed dot.com with a blow on their kazoos, confetti
cannons and falling balloons. I imagine the demise of Webvan might
cut into his food supply a little bit.
But
seriously, the Web-enabled consumer was slowly but surely taking
shape, at least in Silicon Valley. The convenience and comparative
safety (both physical and transactional) makes the Web an appealing
place to purchase many, many things. With the recent flight from
anything with .com in its name, that lifestyle is being curtailed
at a rapid rate.
Where
does that leave us? While the great leap forward in Web retailing
seems to have leapt too far (right over a cliff), the great leap
backward threatens to bring back the bad old days of hacking traffic
and getting clobbered in the shins by strollers.
Is there
a happy medium here? Certainly there are many dot.coms to choose
from that will share in the Web-retailing bonanza. Unfortunately,
the bigger and (in terms of the short history of the Web) more experienced
players have been or are going to be turfed out. That leaves us
with a handful of smaller retailers without the capacity, experience
or connections to make the online buying experience a pleasure for
the user.
Ultimately,
the Web-retailing momentum is too great to be derailed by the death
of the bigger players. Consolidation, clicks and bricks, and the
small, yet agile players will fill the void as well as they can.
Unfortunately, even their valiant efforts won't bring back the Web-enabled
lifestyle of yesteryear (literally) anytime soon.
Copyright
© 2000 Stephen Van Esch. All Rights Reserved.
Stephen Van Esch is a writer and instructional designer living
near Toronto, Canada. He is the owner and CEO of the Text
Pound (http://www.textpound.com) and runs a Weblog called
BlindEye (http://www.blindeye.net).
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