Nobody else has been successful for even one holiday season. EToys, which sells more than 100,000 items, tracks its warehouse inventory so that its site will reflect products actually in stock. Disney-backed Toysmart has come under scrutiny after it listed customer data as an asset in a bankruptcy sale, despite promising customers their information would be kept private. But full-service firms are quickly catching up. And online trading is one of the firm's turbocharged growth areas.
Investors seem to be making the distinction.
Banks Banking is another area where traditional firms have an advantage. Compare that with enrollment at E-Trade Bank. Even at the end of June, E-Trade Bank had only 222,582 active accounts. While that was more than triple the number a year ago, it's still a far cry from traditional banks' online membership. Banks such as Wachovia and Bank of America give tellers incentives to steer customers to online banking, Marks says.