An interesting parallel development is happening on the web. Once viewed narrowly as simply a place to find lower prices, web retailing is moving quickly to stake out new ground. Locational convenience, ease of shopping, speed of transaction, breadth of assortment, and other attributes make web retailing 3.0 look strategically more attractive.

As in Second Life, Brookstone’s 3-D store lets users move freely through an animated world. In the store, when shoppers pause in front of a product, an item description appears, along with a link to a checkout page. For now, that link brings customers to a checkout page on Amazon, with which Brookstone has a marketing partnership.
And online merchants are introducing revolutionary new search features meant to take even more pain out of the typical shopping experience. Barnes & Noble recently introduced a revamped Web site that is heavy with taped interviews with authors and other video features meant to replicate the bookstore experience. But for buyers, not browsers, a major change to the search function will help speed them through the store’s roughly one million book choices.
These moves by online retailing merchants will continue to put pressure on traditional brick & mortar chains to evolve the customer experience in their stores as well. Expect some fascinating new retail developments over the next five to ten years.
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