Strategy C ommercial databases are simply collections of information presented electronically. Databases range in size from simple books made searchable, to several billion records in the larger news databases. The retail database industry is obscure.
Costs are highly variable and difficult to determine in advance.
Products with the same name may contain different information. An individual magazine or database may exist within several databases and several collections. Within this confusion are a collection of definitive, must-search databases. Definitive databases are determined by successful marketing. Not necessarily the 'best', nor most useful, but the market-successful become definitive resources.