Greg, re: B2C — Adding to Jorj's and bp's excellent comments, I would say further that the larger segment of enterprises have had enormous hurdles in developing B2C strategies to make a harmonious trilogy with their channel partners and their end-markets.
The vast majority of enterprises are not "Amazons" that rely simply on infrastructure and delivery. Indeed, the majority are more like Levi Strauss, who have those issues and many more—retention of branding strength and channel partner relationships being a few examples. In a merchandiser's online catalog, one may often see disparate Levi items lumped in with various articles from other competitors, thus diluting brand strength. Yet, as Levi's unfortunately experienced, direct web sales can erode established partner relationships.
These hurdles and others (loyalty, personalization, consultative-selling, channel partner microsites) are now being ironed out, via server-side software which can effectively preserve brand strength, and enterprise communication with its end-market, whilst driving customers directly to an enterprise's channel partners. I believe you'll soon see a B2C resurgence once more of these systems are put in place.
Public companies which offer these solutions include Blue Martini (BLUE) and Broadvision (BVSN). Privately-held ones include The SoftAd Group (disclosure: my current gig)
-MrB e n t e r p r i s e • c h a n n e l • m a r k e t |