E-business application vendors that depend on retailers for their survival spend a lot of time trying to assuage those fears. More than half of retailers surveyed by InternetWeek are outsourcing some of their e-business initiatives to Web design firms or interactive agencies. Other vendors that lend their expertise range from ISPs and application developers to e-business consultants and ASPs. Sixty-nine percent said their employees have reacted well. And perhaps surprisingly in the midst of a series of bankruptcies this year, almost half of the retailing companies surveyed noted that their Internet initiatives have paid them back through the increased revenue the projects have sparked.
Retailers differ on what they consider to be the key to making money online.
In the case of his company, that means using content links to educate consumers about the fragmented world of wine. For Lands' End's Bass, the dotcom fallout isn't even a blip on the company radar screen. E-commerce is one of the greatest things that ever happened. Maybe certain business models aren't going to work, but that's true of every industry.