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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (15924)	11/30/1998 3:58:00 PM
From: Kachina	Respond to of 17305

Another market research firm has created another new buzz phrase to sell.

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (15924)	12/1/1998 2:18:00 PM
From: Andrew Vance	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17305

AV--I am skeptical about the dollar figures but I am not an expert in that arena. As far as an explosion in Internet Commerce, I cannot disagree with his assessment. I am starting to see credit card ads on TV mentioning that they are the "credit card for the internet." E-commerce and Internet sales are mind boggling when you consider what AMZN is able to accomplish along with the catalog companies and small buiness re-sellers. This entire concept eliminates a great deal of the middle men that always seem to get "a piece of the action." Catalog sales - no need for warehouses. Accept orders, send shipping labels to the manufacturer and pay a contract wage to their shipping department to send the merchandise out to the end user. Car Sales - we all know about the computerized services that get you the best deals on cars but what about ordering your car on line and having your loan and down payment taken care off on line also. Theoretically speaking, if you know what you want, you can deal directly with the automaker. Every car dealership could be downsized to become mostly delivery sites with a small sales force to handle to off the street impulse buyers. I for one see this as a possibility. the dealerships might like this also since their inventories of cars on hand could be reducing, thereby reducing overhead expenses. Best Buy - a discount electronics, appliance, and entertainment media store is on line just like DELL and Gateway for computer sales. Best Buy now allows you to "build your own" PC system for delivery just like Gateway. Dealing direct reduces overhead operating expense as well as increasing profits by lowering the loss prevention costs. While credit card fraud is a multi-billion dollar issue, metering technology, secure transaction and authentication services might reduce the amount of fraud. The above is a set of randome disjointed thoughts right now. the point I want to make is that online shopping will become a preferred method of commerce for both the buyer and the seller in numerous areas of business. The rush to e-commerce will lower consumer prices for these items (like AMZN), reduce excess and obsolete inventories, reduce overhead expenses, eliminate many "middle man" jobs, and put a great deal of blue collar workers on the unemployment rolls. Dealing direct is the wave of the future in a good number of arenas. however, it does come with some stiff costs to the economy. Consider this for a moment. TODAY there are stores where you can customize your own music CD. Yep, that is correct. You walk int o a store, pay $x for a blank CD that goes into a special machine and then you fill it up with the songs you want at $2 per song. At 74 minutes per CD you might get 16 songs on a CD at a cost of $32 but you have only those songs you want. Take this one step forward. Image the price of CD-R units coming down in price just like the cost of PCs, to a point where they are almost a giveaway. (Heck, there is talk about providing PCs like they do cable boxes, for internet access.) Every PC has a CD-R or DVD recorder. You hear a song you like, software application you want, see an electronic game you like, or desire to own a certain video or movie. Even the manuals for software can be sold on CDs to reduce costs of the product. POOF !!!! You log into the appropriate internet site, click on a few icons, and the digital stuff you want is written to your blank CD or DVD media. Of course, the WAVX meter (or similar product) deducts the price of this from your centralized E-Commerce account much like a credit card. Your PC is identified as the source of the transaction so there is no question about where the order originated. BTW-this is beiong done today and has a great deal to do with the WAVO-WAVX comments shared here earlier. Think about it, no more video or music stores the way we have them know. We transition to viewing locations and dowload sites. Sure, you keep a limited amount of inventroy on hand, but it really isn't necessary. You could theoretically create the product right there in the store. All this has big ramifications relative to PIRACY by unscrupulous characters. But all the ingredients are present today and don't think it isn't happening. I see a complete overhaul of many retail businesses as the online phenomena takes off. $3 Trillion by 2003?? I do not think so. but it is not entirely impossible. All this capability and technology with all the downsizing in human employment does not seem to create a win-win situation in my mind. Andrew