NEWS FLASH -- SOME WEB RETAILERS ARE MAKING MONEY! A new study by Boston Consulting Group in conjunction with shop.org shows that 38% of Web retailers are actually making money, and a surprising 72% of catalogue companies that moved into cyberspace now have profitable Web operations. Although the results appear to contradict Forrester Research's predictions last week that most dot-com companies will be out of business by 2001, the two studies are not as contradictory as they appear. Forrester noted that in order to be successful on the Web, e-tailers would need "scale, service and speed," while at the same time keeping their costs down. Both research firms agree that the winners will be hybrid operations (catalogue-Web or bricks-and-clicks), or will be category leaders. Of the predicted shakeout, Boston Consulting senior VP David Pecaut says, "It's washing away a lot of the people who had no sustainable business model and just had me-too concepts." Boston Consulting estimates that online shopping will grow 85% this year to $61.1 billion, down from the 120% experienced in 1999. (Wall Street Journal 18 Apr 2000) 155 lines more (you've seen 36%) -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
