A Brick-and-Mortar Retailer’s Guide to E-Commerce

In June, I wrote that I'd decided I'm not in the e-commerce business. Actually, I concluded, I'm a brick-and-mortar retailer who happens to have a good website. The point was that I have to be careful about the resources I devote to building my web business because e-commerce sites can turn into black holes. But that was way back in June. Shortly after writing the post, I spent several days immersed in the brave new world wide web at the Internet Retailer Conference in Chicago. And with another couple of months to process, I've come to a different conclusion.