Word: new
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Initially, companies with powerful off-line brands had a difficult time overcoming the notion that they would be cannibalizing their core business if they sold through the Web. But as it became clear that e-commerce was a viable and complementary retail channel--albeit one that requires a new skill set--the big off-line players gradually came around to embracing...
...first strike is planned for New Year's Day, when Wal-Mart has said it will launch a redesign of the site, adding photo and travel services and expanding the menu to 600,000 items (superstores typically stock about 100,000). The company also promises to link the site to its 2,485 stores in 50 states, allowing online purchases to be returned off-line. "We'll even refund the shipping charges," says Glenn Habern, Wal-Mart's Web war chief...
...Balter isn't expecting a watershed event. The company will improve its online operations, he says, "at a pace it feels it needs to go at to win--and it usually wins." Wal-Mart's loyal demographic--mainstream folks, not tech geeks--will be sidling up to spanking-new, sub-$500 PCs from Santa just as the new-and-improved wal-mart.com is making its debut. So Wal-Mart just might be their ride to the party...
Mighty America Online just signed up to help pass out the punch. Last week Wal-Mart and AOL confirmed plans to launch a co-branded, low-cost Internet service by next spring. In-store kiosks will help introduce shopping at wal-mart.com--and probably the new ISP--to the yet-untapped market strolling Wal-Mart's aisles...
...new kind of consumer is about to emerge as the Internet revolution spills over the edges of the computer revolution's territory. "The next wave is people who never wanted to buy a PC," says Barry Parr, an analyst at International Data Corp. Even as early as 2003, analysts expect, a third of online households will be spending around $50 billion through non-PC devices...