The WWW provides a world wide distribution channel to even the smallest of businesses. Here are some interesting examples.
Large Corporations are finding many diverse ways to use the WWW to better serve customers, to open new distribution channels, to attract employees, or to interact with shareholders. Some companies simply use the Internet as an extention of traditional marketing operations -- a new vehicle to create and maintain an image and to efficiently disseminate to global audiences information about products and services. Some companies in indusries that are information-based (financial services, media, software) are using the Internet as a new, more efficient delivery channel for both their primary products as well as support services. Other companies have moved beyond that and are using the Internet to carry out actual commercial transactions.
The following are some illustrations:
Malls are appearing to make shopping easier. In many cases these are web stores that were developed for others by the same organization and may or may not have much in common with one another. But lists like this one also serve to channel business to individual outlets.
Open Market's Directory of Commercial Servers on the Net
Bargain Finder - Prototype Intelligent Agent for Comparison Shopping
Multi-Product Automated Quotations
Issues to think about:
![Internet Evolution](ftp://ftp.isoc.org/isoc/charts/history-gifs/timeline.gif"){kind=link}
