Online Equality: A Grand Illusion?

The Internet is the great equalizer, giving companies large or small the same opportunity to reach a global base of online customers.

Or is it? Local retail businesses trying to bolster bottom lines by launching E-commerce sites are far from equal to online competitors, according to industry analysts. In fact, they stand to have their cyber lunch eaten by online superstores capable of digging into deeper pockets to fund their E-commerce efforts.

According to Forrester Research, small and midsize local retailers will struggle to compete with online superstores like Cyberian Outpost and Travelocity. Today small and midsize retailers take in 9% ($680 million) of the $7.8 billion in annual online retail sales revenue. By 2003 local retailers can expect to be even more marginalized, with command of only 6% ($6 billion) of the estimated $108 billion in online retail revenues, according to Forrester.