John Barker writes: Flash in the pan

Inside Multimedia

Stenenage

Aug 14, 2000

The future for dotcoms is now exceedingly bleak, many have been forced to reduce operations or shut down entirely, thereby revealing the real essence of the Internet revolution.  Recent years have seen the power within the supply chains shift from the retailer to the consumer.  This trend has been further intensified by the rise of the Internet, as essentially e-commerce provides consumers with further choices and a new medium with which to do their shopping.  The lesson to be learnt from the fall of purely on-line companies, is that consumers value choice and robbing them of the opportunity of a physical shopping experience is a risky move.