>But most of those online merchants, since they take credit cards, should
>have tollfree voice telephone numbers where you can get sales information
>and place orders.
Don't you believe it! Business-to-business e-commerce is considered the only
sector likely to make any money, and that's through cutting the paperwork
for routine purchases. Apart from niche markets, business-to-consumer
"e-tailing" will be/is cut-throat. TescoDirect, which I wrote about recently
want absolutely no normal contact with their customers during the ordering
process. Checking the charges per transaction made for hosting some kinds of
online store shows the sort of costs a retailer employing flesh-&-blood has
to compete with. I hear the US uses members of the prison population to work
as call-handlers. In the UK there is development of speech recognition and
knowledge management software for that purpose.
We live in interesting times...
Jake
