Whatever criticisms we may level at it, it's remarkably effective and remarkably cheap. We have a nation that's spread out, and retail has to follow where people live. Opportunity begins once the Net has to operate with the same 19th century accounting rules to which everybody must adhere. The key piece that has been missing in this entire Internet disaster has been the lack of adoption by women. If women see technology as something that makes their lives more meaningful or more effective, it then makes the critical transition to an appliance.
Retailing is like a sieve.
Once you start losing focus, you lose customers, money, and staff. You have to keep the ship watertight and focused on a direction. Also Wall Street, which historically is about following where the trends are leading, tried to lead the charge. Wall Street did the larger retail business community a huge disservice by growing companies faster than they were maturing. This has caused the cost of hiring employees and buying real estate to exceed most realistic companies' budgets.