A recent poll suggests that the only way to attract new online consumers is to gain their trust by building a powerful brand. Market researcher Harris Interactive found that the most important factors keeping people from shopping online were concerns about sharing their credit-card information and about how their personal information will be used. The upshot is that unless an e-commerce company is already a leader in its category, or has a strong offline presence and brand, odds are good that its shares are going to be one heck of a lot lower in early 2000 than they are right now. Amazon's better positioned than most. Although it's just a rumor right now, this could be a real blockbuster of a deal, since nobody understands mass marketing like AOL and Wal-Mart.
Timing is everything, as they say.
Join Pat for a live chat about the technology sector and Internet stocks on AOL's MarketTalk every Tuesday at 9 a.m. and Wednesday at 10 a.m. Central time. Hosted by Sage Online. For AOL users only. Inc. All rights reserved. Please read our Privacy Policy .