BIZNETS: In Search of Online Excellence
What Differentiates e-Winners & e-Losers?

Loyal consumers determine the best e-commerce strategies by popularizing one company over another. They quickly sort the winners from the losers. Website success, of course, is not determined by consumer popularity alone; the website has to be profitable or it will vanish. Given time, however, popularity and profitability inevitably determine which sites come out on top. And it tends to be a winner-take-all market where the leading online company in a particular sector is far ahead of its main rivals.

• Why do some win big; others come in distant second?
  
• What does it take to win online?
  
• What differentiates the winners from the also-rans?

The big winners tend to be "first movers" who ran fast and broadened out their product offerings. All are volume leaders in their product sectors – some are global leaders and/or leaders across many product sectors in their national markets. As well, they all evolved rapidly in response to customer needs and new technological capabilities. In fact, as we shall see, the early winners are "BIZNETS" that exploit everything the Web has to offer. They build their business through word-of-modem recommendations among communities of consumers, forming strong personalized relationships with customers through customized offerings. In fact, we will learn that the "best of the best" pursue a blended "high-tech, high-touch" strategy.

The leadership position of these companies demonstrates key marks of excellence. These elements account not only for their current online retailing success but for their survival of the dot-com shake-out of 2000-2001. Indeed, when everything seems to collapse like that, we need to look around and see what’s left standing – and not only surviving but prospering. We will find that each of these companies emerged unscathed and stronger from the dot-com carnage, not only because their rivals were weakened or vanquished but because they had a superior business model and excellent strategy execution.

BIZNETS examines the strategies behind the success of the leading global online retailers. It draws out lessons that others might adopt. In essence, the winners are presented as "best practice" case studies, comparing their business models and strategies to see what accounts for their obvious success – and what lessons other aspirants might learn from them.

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