You can't open a newspaper in
England these days without seeing yet another "dot com" article
- that is, an article about the internet and buying via the
internet.
The name DOT
COM comes from the final part of many internet addresses, as in
Amazon.com, showing that the address mentioned belongs to
a company rather than an organisation or a university - in this
case to an online bookseller.
Suddenly buying via the internet is big business. Traditional
retailing has become
e-tailing, and retailers have become
e-tailers.
E-commerce is
taking over from more "normal" selling methods. An
e-revolution
is taking place, almost without our being aware of it. The
British government has even appointed an
e-envoy to
ensure that we are not left behind in this net age. In all these
words, of course e- stands for "electronic".
Companies can hardly be credible these days if they don't
e-tail. There
are now a number of new words to describe companies.
Bricks (or
bricks and mortar) companies do not use the internet and rely on
traditional business methods.
Clicks
companies, named after the clicks that you make when you use
your computer mouse, use only the internet and keep inventing
new ways of operating, new
e-strategies.
And then there are
bricks and
clicks
companies, also called
clicks and mortar
companies, which combine online trading and traditional selling
methods.
There's no doubt that if you want to get ahead you need to set
up an e-company.
In America the net has created so many billionaires in the last
year that the garages have run out of Ferraris to sell them!
About 40% of Web users are women, so there are now web sites
dedicated to women -
chick click sites.
If you haven't
got a computer linked up to the Web, you are being left behind.
I saw a new company advertising in the newspaper last Christmas;
it was eToys,
and they said it was the only way to buy Christmas presents for
your friends' children: it's cheaper, quicker, and saves you
having to go out of the house. I have to admit that even I can
see the benefit of
e-shopping; the goods are often cheaper, I don't have
to find anywhere to park, and I don't have to post them. I still
haven't had the thank you letters though. Maybe they’ll
e-mail
me.
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