The Web makes it possible to hold real-time auctions for just about everything. Customer ignorance about prices and relative product performance has been a profit center for many companies. On the Net, customers will be able to get providers to bid against each other in a way that seldom happens in the off-line world. Think of the e-mortgage firms that link consumers with lenders. Not only do these aggregators provide a wealth of information on rates and the home-buying process, some of these companies put the consumers mortgage out to bid to get the best deal possible.
Customers also escape the shackles of geography.
Until recently, if you needed a mortgage, you would humble yourself before the local banker. Now you can go to the Web and shop for the best mortgage rates from financial institutions across the country. Systems like these will put pricing pressure on the overall market they automate. Today's consumers demand not just independent advice but also neutral distribution channels. The goal is not just to minimize the hassle of finding something but to minimize the hassle of getting it as well.