This race against time will end next summer and could end very sadly, with West Coast operations snapped up by Safeway and East Coast operations snapped up by Publix. This would guarantee an end to competition and innovation, at least until the next boom. The herd mentality of the Internet media always makes me laugh. It's all in the moment. There's no long view.
Internet commerce rolls merrily on, as it did before.
Nearly all those who bought online last Christmas plan to do so again, despite the problems . The truth is, and always has been, far more complex. Traditional retailers do have an opportunity to pick up market share right now, but most lack fulfillment capability or the will to install it. The big gainers will be traditional catalog houses like LLBean and Landsend, but these companies lack the imagination to change retailing as the Web can. The game, in other words, is still afoot.