<<Actually, I always thought AOL's better hope was in online shopping>>
I agree. Credit card info is already in place, ship-to address too. Impulse purchase opportunities abound, rather than having to rely on drawing in traffic to the site(s). Mixing/blurring of purchase related content and product advertising will continue, with AOL in an advantageous position here.
Another opportunity may lie in the shopping club concept, where all purchases thru the system add to the member's volume incentive. AOL has the capability to offer this type of repeat incentive at the merchant level, at the systemwide level, or both.
The down and dirty, search for the lowest price, "web shopping brokerage" approach, as Excite and Intuit seem to be headed for, will have its success, no doubt, and some "category killer" sites will too. AOL is setting up its web presence thru AOL.com to be in a position to offer anything an Excite or Yahoo! can offer.
I see AOL continuing to benefit from their built-in ease of use advantage, and satisfaction guarantees and volume purchase deals that can be passed on to their member base.
Sort of like an online WalMart.
|
