That's billions of dollars that will be taken out of the hands of traditional merchants this year and placed in the hands of their online rivals. Only 6 percent of online sales this year will be incremental, or sales added to what consumers would have made without the Web. Many traditional merchants have hesitated to go online, fearing that their Web sales would cannibalize their more profitable offline businesses. But traditional merchants are likely to lose those sales regardless of whether they move online. Having an Internet strategy will not provide them with new opportunities, but it will provide them the opportunity to defend their market share.
Traditional merchants can do little to reverse the movement of sales to the Web.
Successful merchants in the future will have strong operations online and off. All rights reserved.