Articles by Paul A. Greenberg

Despite concerns that automobile companies are angling to bypass their automobile dealer networks in the sale of new cars online, car dealers remain entrenched in the online car buying process Instead of bypassing dealer networks, car manufacturers are keeping dealers in the loop by sending prospective prospects to their closest dealer to complete ...

According to research firm GartnerGroup, Asian B2B e-commerce will top $272 billion (US$) by 2003, with overall Asian e-commerce reaching $340 million "There's a big myth that Asia is light years behind the U.S., but I don't think we're behind at all," said GartnerGroup's Hong Kong-based research director Joseph Sweeney. "We're moving in different ...

Waves of new customers are filling prescriptions and buying cosmetics, vitamins and other traditional health and pharmaceutical products on the Net, according to a new study by research firm ActivMedia The study, titled "Consumable Products: Building Consumer Loyalty Online," reports that these e-pharmacies have established a strong foothold in cyb...

Despite recent gains, European e-commerce still lags behind online sales in the United States, according to a new study from International Data Corporation (IDC) The study, titled "European Internet and eCommerce," reveals that of the 10,600 households surveyed in the 12 largest European Internet markets, five percent of the total adult population ...

No. 1 Internet service provider America Online and U.S. automaker General Motors have announced a joint venture that will help consumers shop and service their new cars via the Internet Under the terms of the agreement, GM and AOL will work in tandem to leverage AOL's recently revamped Auto Channel across the online service's multiple channels. The...

Working capital for startups has come to e-commerce companies from various sources, including family members, cash advances on credit cards, and even life savings The bulk of startup money, however, continues to flow from venture capital, which was once the exclusive enclave of well-to-do investors. Today, however, venture capital has become mainst...

Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) is ditching the Microsoft operating system in a new line of Internet appliances under development at a target price of about $200 (US$) If all goes according to plan, Americans soon will be using these new devices for shopping, e-mailing and conducting business from their kitchen counters and dens.

The B2B market was given a boost this week by the launch of two sites that will specialize in B2B banking and advertising, respectively Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based USABancShares.com (Nasdaq: USAB) unveiled ambitious plans to offer full-service banking exclusively to companies that specialize in B2B electronic commerce.

Last November, when priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) began selling groceries online, it was anybody's guess whether the public would take the bait. Now, two months later, priceline.com has more than 75,000 members in its "name-your-own-price" WebHouse Club grocery service, and the company is looking to penetrate a number of markets in the Northeastern quadrant of the United States...

Now that the holiday dust has settled, many online businesses are struggling to figure out how to combat the notion that e-commerce is marred by poor customer service This holiday season yielded stinging but consistent complaints: complicated sites that were difficult to navigate; merchandise that arrived late or never; too many steps required to c...

The battle lines have been drawn for one of the great e-commerce clashes of 2000. Proponents of online privacy and innovators of site-specific personalization are set to struggle with the big question: At what point does personalization become an invasion of an online shopper's privacy? It is a dispute not likely to be settled soon, as technology i...

Even if 1999 was the year of glitz, glamour and unprecedented consumer online spending, the tremendous movement in the business-to-business (B2B) sector may turn out to be 1999's most important story Although it moves far more quietly than the much flashier online shopping market, industry analysts, as well as investors, are fixated on the mammoth ...

If you have ever received a desperate call from someone who needs you to wire money right away, you know how inconvenient it can be. Or if your son calls from college and needs tuition money transferred to his account, the necessary trip to the bank can be quite an interruption Wouldn't it be great if you could simply put the caller on hold and con...

While vigorous holiday traffic and subsequent respectable sales figures are encouraging, smart e-tailers with an eye toward longevity are taking a second look at their marketing and sales strategies Many e-tailers are realizing that the honeymoon period of trial and error in online sales is over. Shoppers have made their priorities known and have b...

The deafening roar of silence in e-commerce may soon give way to an explosion of sound, as an Internet telephony revolution grows more likely every day Chief among the leaders is Net2Phone, a New Jersey-based concern that counts American Online among its powerful investors. Net2Phone's principals firmly believe that voice communication is about to ...

Although the technology is in place to sell insurance via the Net, consumers are not giving up the one night a year when they sit in their living rooms and listen to their insurance agent pontificate about the advantages of "Plan A" versus "Plan B." Now that dynamic may be changing, albeit not right away. One big hurdle for online insurance sales t...

While shoppers have flocked to online toy stores in record numbers this year, the two toy store leaders -- eToys, Inc. and Toys 'R' Us -- have both had rough times recently Toys 'R' Us has had serious performance problems with its Web operations, earning it the moniker "Toys 'R' Oops.com," while eToys has seen its stock slide precipitously despite ...

With Christmas just days away, a number of e-commerce sites are now displaying disclaimers stating that they cannot guarantee deliveries before the holiday, further fueling debate over whether e-commerce is ultimately capable of giving brick-and-mortar retailing a legitimate long-term challenge For its part, UPS has set today as the last day it wil...

A new type of company is attempting to attract online shoppers by providing them with incentives, such as cash, mutual funds and contributions to non-profit organizations, when they shop on Web sites with affiliate programs These new companies do not provide the shopping themselves, but create links to multiple e-tailers that have affiliate shoppin...

Imagine shopping for that book you need, checking your stock portfolio, or reading yesterday's sports scores while making a morning subway commute. It is not only feasible, but likely to happen sooner than you think, thanks to the rapidly approaching world of wireless e-commerce If you thought a telephone was just a device on which to converse, thi...