The Impact of Technology

Chapter 12

The WWW has seen the emergence of a new genre of entrepreneurs. A spectrum of product and service providers have set up virtual stores providing their customers distinct benefits. Amazon.com is one such example of an online bookstore that lets customers search over a million tittles by author, tittle, or subject. Special features at this site include contests, reviews, and features by topic areas. Since Amazon sources directly from the manufacturer they price their wares well below traditional store based booksellers. This combination of technology and price has shaken up not only, the book retailing industry but the whole category of shopping products including (autos, furniture, music, computers etc.). This ability to compare prices keeps getting enhanced with the emergence of specialized companies furnishing this information for a price. While auto brokers have been the traditional providers of such information there is a growing level of specialization. For example it is now possible for an individual to shop for term-life insurance without salesperson contact.

Yet another development of the WWW has been the rapid acceptance of auctioning. Specialing by category of products bidders send in their bids via E-Mail and this is either distributed directly to other bidders or to the auctioneer. In the instance of the auctioneer receiving the bid, it is posted directly to a Web site or forwarded as an E-Mail message to other bidders. Moat auctions have bidding rounds . Payment options must be pre-arranged. On secure web sites the transaction may be completed via credit or charge cards. In other instances bidders may be required to register by means of a password.