Net Gains, Net Losses, Net Prophets: New competition — but new opportunities, too—Art Materials and the Internet

摘要

First, some perspective: Although e-commerce has captured our attention recently, it is still an infant. How it will look and act as a grown-up is unknown. Despite e-commerce's impressive growth rate, Wal-Mart stores sold more last December than the entire online industry did in all of 1999, reports CBS Market Watch. But the infant is growing - rapidly. Online spending rose from $2.4 billion in 1997 to $8 billion in 1998 to $20.2 billion in 1999, CBS MarketWatch says.