ZSUN, in the same sentence as: Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon, Cisco, E-trade...
New Study: E-Commerce Competition Forces Businesses
To Invent New Money-Making Strategies
The Internet Transforms All Commerce --
And Destroys Traditional Business Models
April 21, 1999 - Chesterfield, Missouri - Internet-based e-commerce will skyrocket, but only companies that develop and implement entirely new business models will succeed. That is one of the conclusions of the new 231-page study, Portals to Profit: E-Commerce Business Models and Enabling Technologies, released today by Datacomm Research Company and Techvest International.
"Traditional business models will be replaced by new models based on electronic information chains," said Michael Hentschel, veteran venture capitalist and principal author of the report, who identified and analyzed the 20 most significant Internet e-commerce business models. "The Internet is the most efficient market ever devised," he adds, "but the inexorable drive towards cost and below-cost pricing will compel vendors to discover new paths to profit."
"This report demystifies Internet e-commerce," said Ira Brodsky, President of Datacomm Research. "It explains why sky-high Internet stock valuations are not, in general, crazy," he adds, "and provides participants with a comprehensive analysis of how to compete and win in the global, computerized marketplace."
Portals to Profit: E-Commerce Business Models and Enabling Technologies includes an Executive Summary identifying the key Internet e-commerce business and technology trends. The section on Business Models evaluates existing and emerging profit models, including conventional, competitive, niche and relational models. The Technology section discusses the role of portals, vertical hubs, meta-search programs, intelligent agents, and knowledge management systems -- technologies behind what has become the world's largest, fastest, and most automated market. The Implementation Strategies section looks at the technology, marketing, and financial components of winning business plans. The Opportunities section highlights the best candidates for software, hardware, and services. The report also profiles dozens of companies including Alta Vista, Amazon, AOL, Barnes & Noble, Buy.com, Cisco, Dell Computer, DoubleClick, EBay, E*Trade, Fidelity Investments, Gooitech, Intelliseek, Microsoft, Motorola, Priceline, RealNetworks, Yahoo! and ZiaSun.
Techvest International is a leader in advising and funding high-tech ventures. The firm specializes in telecommunications and software, two fields rapidly converging on the Internet. More information is available from the firm's Web site at www.techvest.com.
Datacomm Research Company is a leader in tracking, analyzing, and forecasting emerging telecommunication markets. Other Datacomm reports include Bandwidth Bonanza, IP Insurgency, and CDMA Wireless Business Opportunities.
Portals to Profit: E-Commerce Business Models and Enabling Technologies is available for immediate delivery and sells for $1,495.00 (printed and bound version). Orders may be faxed to (314) 514-9793, phoned to (314) 514-9750, or mailed to Datacomm Research Company, 14318 Millbriar Circle, Chesterfield, Missouri 63017. The report may also be ordered online from the firm's Web site at www.datacommresearch.com. Visa, Mastercard, and American Express accepted.
Additional conclusions found in Portals to Profit: E-Commerce Business Models and Enabling Technologies:
Wireless will extend e-commerce to everywhere business transactions are conducted; high-speed access will empower merchants and advertisers through new and richer content. Wireless winners will include two-way paging, digital mobile telephone services, and Teledesic, the McCaw/Gates "Internet-in-the-sky" satellite network. High-speed access will enable 3D representations, avatars, and virtual worlds for a more compelling shopping experience.
The best-capitalized portals and hubs will pull ahead of the pack, using their stock market valuations to acquire whatever technologies they need. But there will still be opportunities for small "e-tailers" who add value by helping customers find what they want. Thus, money and knowledge will become interchangeable on the Internet.
E-commerce will require new business models, engendering much experimentation. Many businesses will sell products at cost, making money off advertising, shipping and handling charges, membership fees, cash flow, or other devices. Keiretsu-like alliances will enable member sites to gain proximity to favorite destinations and share traffic flow. Auction sites will evolve further, as intelligent agents turn the entire Internet into a real-time auction.
Mergers of big portals, ISPs, and telecomm access providers will abound. Big portals will emulate AOL's subscription model. High-speed access providers will deliver new types of content to captive audiences. ISPs will be assimilated, becoming less important as standalone entities. Foreign portals will exploit temporary opportunities -- opportunities that will gradually disappear as real-time translation software breaks down all language barriers.
Browsers are becoming commodities and, as such, largely irrelevant to business differentiation. Meta-search technology will undermine search engines used by leading portals. Personalization technology will benefit buyers by enabling personal portals and sellers by enabling more precision ad targeting. Search software suites with intelligent agents will prove key to data and ad relevancy.
The network computer is dead, but the concept of servers renting software to thin and even zero-footprint clients is not. Middleware will establish bridges between Web servers and legacy systems. Web-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software will play a key role in business-to-business e-commerce. Software will increasingly migrate to the Internet.
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