What caused them to fail was the unreasonable treadmill they jumped on. They risked their ventures on capitalization plans that had to show tremendous growth very quickly and then had to produce a sizeable return on the investment. With the stock market going through an overdue downturn investors couldn't get the returns they needed and new investors weren't ready to step in with the lower prospect of a public offering or sale. They came from complete oblivion to become well known among regular online shoppers, and all within a few months rather than years. Each would have had to establish itself in a small, easy to reach market and let word of mouth spread the news.
Traditional companies take years to establish national recognition.
But name recognition and growing sales were not enough to obtain the kind of return on investment put into the companies. In addition, he says, retailers are noticing that high-margin items are moving up the ladder in types of merchandise sold online. The main retailing tradeshow reflects these changes, Love says, as it mimics some of the Internet shows popping up everywhere. So, for now find his full article here but look shortly for Internet Retailer to appear online. Of course, like most magazine publishers, Love is betting that you will like what you see online and subscribe to the paper version for your reading convenience.