digitalv - 3:08 pm on Feb 12, 2011 (gmt 0)

jNorth is right, it's not necessarily an "old way of thinking", there are some good reasons not to sell online.

A lot of companies still do this due to distribution contracts. If a manufacturer has given a distributor or retailer exclusive rights over a region, then selling directly online would be screwing their distributors out of that local sale. And likewise they may restrict their local distributors/retailers from going online with the products because that would allow them to potentially cross into someone else's territory with their sales.

Not all businesses need e-commerce, or want the extra sales. Sometimes keeping your brand "exclusive" is a smarter strategy. Frankly I'm surprised at the arrogance of the young webmaster types who think they know how to market a business better than 70+ year old $100M+ companies. No offense, but I'll take their strategy over our meager Internet strategies any day. :)