Before beginning to sell its sofas and coffee tables directly to customers online, Ethan Allen, a deeply traditional American furniture company, had to overcome considerable psychological resistance. The answer in America, it seems, is not if they can help it.
People are busy.
E-commerce offers more power to the consumer and makes the market more efficient. Sreenath Sreenivasan, a professor of New Media at the Columbia University School of Journalism, says the power of electronic shopping in the US has come as a surprise even to some technology experts. I can't remember the last time I bought a CD in a store.