That ability to manage the crunch is another key element in online success. You may get a couple of extra days out of Mom. Institutional knowhow works in our favor. Indeed, 1800Flowers, poised to turn its first profit in June, is on the road to success thanks largely to its expansion into nonfloral items. Over Christmas, more than half its revenues came from food and other nonblooming gifts.
Many retailers have great brands and the ability to manage under pressure.
They'll be the ones to make good money online. There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about what went wrong in e-tailing, the many promising online efforts that failed to stay afloat. But surveying the landscape, you would be hard-pressed to find failures that had either great brand names or a knack for managing crunch periods. Building an online business will not be as quick or cheap as many originally thought. But neither is it hopelessly hard.