Content Companies provide specialized information for the customers. Each of these types of companies receive their revenues from advertising and marketing deals with companies that are selling products through the Internet. Revenues come from a percentage or orders placed by consumers through the Internet. Most of their costs are fixed and don't change, whether they have 100 customers to 100 million customers. Each additional customer flows directly to the bottom line.
Convenience is the major attraction.
People's lives are getting busier. In bad weather or at the end of a long work day they can order what they want over the Internet. Some people want to order when they want and not when a store is open. Some of these companies can charge lower rates than stores as they operate with much lower overhead costs and pass on some of the savings to the consumer. Anyone seriously in business on the Internet, employs these tools or employs someone else that does.