| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MARCH 1, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- READERS REPORT
Who Needs E-Commerce When Shops Are Everywhere? (int'l edition) I am skeptical every time the media set out to spread the gospel of electronic commerce without any qualification (''Honk if you bought your car online,'' Asian Business, Feb. 8). Insofar as intercompany trade is concerned, [the Internet] will certainly become the main tool of business the world over. But is it applicable equally to retail business around the world? This is my basic question, all the more deepened by your story. We consumers generally wish to take a careful look at the goods we are going to buy. In case we cannot do so, we must buy them by what we call ''home shopping.'' We already have plenty of such services offered by shopping guides, catalogs, newspaper ads, and TV shopping programs. Once we have decided to buy things through ''portal'' services, we place the order over the phone or fill a simple order form and send it by fax. Indeed, this is a far easier procedure than an Internet keyboard operation. I think your reporter is wrong when she asserts that Japan is a laggard in E-commerce. The simple fact would be that Japan, which is a small country with a large majority of its population living in cities full of shops, has less need of Internet commerce than other countries. In addition, the existing portal services are good enough. Her report of the successful cyber-showroom car sale seems to tell an atypical story of an unfortunate individual who couldn't get as good a discount as we usually get from car dealers in a face-to-face negotiation. Hideaki Yamashita Funabashi, Japan _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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