258cib - 9:11 pm on Feb 27, 2004 (gmt 0)

superpower says:

I think people are waaaay off on the wrong track when they try to compare a website to a brochure.

Don't diss the brochure too much. Again, it depends on the industry. The travel industry, for example, sees web sites as a brochure on steroids, but a brochure nevertheless. You can't deliver the goods in the mail.

But, I had lunch today with my friend with a used bookshop. She keeps talking about closing down her retail store. Why? Some 50 to 60 percent of her orders, and 80 percent of her growth, is from the web, at very little cost. (She's shipping books all over the world.)

So, again, it depends on the industry.