Here are the six online business models as described by the authors:
1. Direct sales, where companies actually sell on the Web, using online fulfillment, security, and ordering systems.
2. Subscriptions, where fees are charged for access to information. Fees can be quite low and still be profitable due to the minimal production costs of a product such as a newsletter, for example.
3. Advertising, where ads are placed on Web sites, such as the ads on the Yahoo search engine. Any site that draws people for one reason may be an advertising opportunity for marketers who want to make customers out of people drawn to the site.
4. Web Services, the moniker for all the occupations of consultant, designer, transaction processing, and other services unique to the World Wide Web.
5. Cost-savings in competition with traditional means of distribution such as snail mail. Federal Express, and United Parcel Service use Web sites to help customers track packages faster than they would through an 800 phone number.
6. Operation enhancement through "infomercial" and other types of information provided to customers to enhance their experience with a company.
This book is a helpful survey of the tools, models, and strategies for Internet business, directed specifically to those with not enough time and prior knowledge to engage in a full-out investigation.
Michael Pellecchia writes about business and finance books for this publication. He can be reached at michael_pellecchia@bookpage.com.
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