Headline Feeds
Amid the hype and optimism surrounding the rise of e-commerce is the inescapable fact that a number of traditional businesses are falling by the wayside.
One obvious trouble spot is the independently owned bookstore, which simply does not have the market muscle to compete with giants such as barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.
The corner travel agency is also getting a run for its money, in part because online travel companies are now offering irresistibly cost-effective package deals to globe-trotting Web surfers, and also because the major airlines are offering discounts to those travelers who book tickets online.
Read All About It Online
Newsstands are another clear casualty of e-commerce. After all, why would a reader trudge through the snow to buy a newspaper when the same content is available online?
This trend is most noticeable in New York City, where newsstands once dotted virtually every corner of every block. With more than 2000 North American newspapers and 1500 foreign papers on the Web, newsstands that have operated for the better part of the 20th century have either shut down their operations or have moved to smaller quarters.
Businesses On The Way Out
With major video and DVD rental and sales merchants localizing their efforts, the corner video store may be on the way out as well. If a customer can go online, order and pay for a rental video, and have it delivered within a specified period of time, chances are that the video store will truly become unnecessary.
Other businesses may retain their traditional brick and mortar presence, but reduce or eliminate their workforce. The gas station will still be there, but the attendant likely will not. Similar fates could await dry cleaners, pharmacies, banks and other traditional consumer outlets.
Learning The Hard Way
There are also, of course, the traditional businesses that have suffered irreversible financial losses due to well-intentioned forays into the world of e-commerce. Price-gouging Web design firms, fulfillment headaches and delivery breakdowns have caused some e-business newbies to fold before they even get a chance to test the waters.
Catch-22
Ultimately, e-commerce is presenting small businesses with a high stakes catch-22. Those that choose to stem the tide by battening down the hatches and staying close to home are getting swept away in record numbers. However, those that attempt to beat e-commerce by joining it are finding that the road is littered with the wreckage of those who have failed before them.
