Articles by Paul A. Greenberg

As e-commerce works to establish itself as a mainstream phenomenon, many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers have taken a wait-and-see attitude toward expanding their enterprises online Some saw ominous signs that suggested an early rush to go online would not be prudent. Volume businesses, for example, have been cautiously noting that the conve...

You know the price wars that occasionally break out between gas station owners on opposite corners of an intersection? Well, the same type of price wars may break out on the Internet because of product comparison Web sites and attendant shopping "bots" that purport to give consumers the lowest price for products on the Web Even if online stores do ...

E-commerce has certainly come a long way in just a year. IPOs have come and gone, companies have merged and diverged, and previously-unthinkable alliances now dot the landscape It seems then, so long as e-commerce remains in the midst of an extended honeymoon with the public, that now is as good of a time as ever to take stock of what is working we...

The one element of the online buying process in which consumers have consistently expressed a lack of trust is the delivery of goods Reports are abounding about e-shoppers waiting days and weeks for items, and of sites that promised two or three-day deliveries not coming through as promised.

This week's new alliances between AOL and Wal-Mart, as well as Yahoo! and Kmart, are designed to tap into what Goldman Sachs calls "the fastest-growing demographic coming onto the Web," or the 96 million Americans who make less than $50,000 (US$) a year and have yet to become Internet users By all accounts, this week has the potential to be a true ...

In the United States, where as many as 80 percent of all new businesses fold within the first five years, many dot-com startups are finding that they need some form of assistance to survive The old days of "winging it" on the Web have given way to a serious scramble for money and guidance, and e-incubators are increasingly coming into play.

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Once the holiday sales boom subsides and online spending settles down, e-commerce is likely to shift into the mergers and acquisitions mode. However, predicting who will be left standing once the dust settles is almost impossible By many accounts, e-businesses that present a unique selling proposition to the online buyer may have a greater chance f...

Until now, industry leaders and agencies that focus on online security have always suggested that consumers pay for e-purchases with a credit card. However, not all shoppers have credit cards, and there are those who might not choose to use one if given the option Enter the virtual check. This new payment method is the result of technology develope...

Despite encouraging signs from China during the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle, Washington, Chinese Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan has said that China will strictly limit foreign investment in Internet companies According to Wu, foreign companies with investments in Chinese industry are "in violation of curren...

When the World Trade Organization (WTO) gave e-commerce its blessing by extending the moratorium on Internet taxes, it may have signaled the next big step in online consumer spending Until now, online shoppers have -- for the most part -- been shopping in their own backyards. Americans shop America and Europeans shop Europe. However, now that the i...

Many consumers are demanding that online banking increase its Web presence, and the trend seems due, at least in part, to customer dissatisfaction with their brick-and-mortar bank experiences Some traditional banks now charge customers a fee to approach a teller window for transactions, and another fee to do business on an ATM machine. However, de...

Of the many roles that e-tailers are assuming in their quest for the hearts and minds of consumers, the role of creditor may be the most unexpected However, a growing number of online businesses are now doubling as finance companies for their customers, and are realizing some surprising profits.

While research into online buying habits has revealed some consistent shopping patterns, not much has been said about the makeup of this army of online consumers Until now.

While the next few weeks may not tell the definitive story of electronic shopping, evidence is emerging that early sales projections were rosier than what actually materialized According to online research firm Service Metrics, even if holiday sales reach an ambitious $15 billion (US$), they will account for less than 10 percent of total sales. Tha...

Of all the roadblocks that e-tailers encounter on their way to success in the new electronic frontier, shopping bots may become the most formidable With catchy names like DealTime.com, mySimon.com and RUSure.com, bots are presenting e-tailers with the ultimate challenge -- how to keep their customers from clicking off into the great beyond.

Once the excitement and big sales of the holiday season are over, e-tailers will have to get down to the serious business of keeping the momentum going strong So far, much of what online customers find objectionable has to do with complicated buying experiences, and the proof is in the numbers. Online research company Jupiter Communications reports...

As e-businesses contemplate their next move in the new electronic marketplace, many are finding great prospects in affiliation Although not a new concept, affiliation is catching on with even some of the biggest players. American Online, for example, is spreading the word that for every new membership generated via a click from an affiliate Web sit...

If there is any one thing that many Internet businesses have not considered in their business plans, it could be described simply as "limitations." Thinking that the pool of Internet users is never-ending and the possibilities exist for sales volume without a cap, many businesses have been near-sighted in their approach to e-commerce.

Yesterday, U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce David Aaron reported that ministers at the WTO meeting in Seattle, Washington had agreed to keep the Internet tax-free, probably well into next year The Net has been officially, if temporarily, free of duties since 1998, and can now, with the impending formal agreement among nations, evolve without varying...