Brick and Mortar to Click and Mortar.

Making the transition from a Brick and Mortar business to a "Click and Mortar" requires the investigation of all companies, regardless of size. Every business magazine devotes considerable attention to "dotCom" companies. This term is generally used to describe startups which emphasize the use of the Internet and its technologies to re-invent traditional commerce methods or provide new services altogether. Most of these startups promote services and products that were available before industries and their consumers became able to use computers as a global communication tool. Brick and Mortars must embrace the Internet, or be superseded by the wave of dotComs.

To ensure their survival in the rapidly emerging Internet Economy, existing companies must leverage their customer base, brand recognition, and core expertise while efficiently evaluating areas in which the Internet can help their business. These businesses are fortunate in the fact that they can leverage the risks the dotComs and their investors have taken. By selecting an Internet development company to partner with a brick and mortat business can rapidly add to it's skill set and begin the transition to a more Internet savvy method of operation.

Of course, with the exception of information based services, it will be a signficant time before the dotComs replace entire industries with pure electronic commerce -- although we've already -- seen major transformation in everything from stock trading to PC sales. While consumers appreciate the touch and appearance of items they are considering for purchase. This desire shall not fade in the near future; from cars to produce, most people enjoy the experience of inspecting the merchandise before putting down their dollars.

In the retail sector, existing business are embattled to maintain their market share. Television commercials are replete with advertisements for sears.com, crateandbarrel.com, and others. Regardless, most of these attempts to infiltrate the world of e-commerce are simply knee-jerk reactions to impede the sales erosion to the dotComs. Most of these sites lack a complete roster of services that can be found in an actual store. A specific example is that the Brick and Mortars shortchange themselves by offering substantially less inventory online than in their stores and their dotCom competitors.

What seems to be generally overlooked is how existing businesses, the "Brick and Mortars", are going to make the transition to this new avenue for commerce. Other than a few notable exceptions (Dell and Cisco being the largest), most traditional companies have struggled to integrate the Internet into their already successful operations. In many cases, it becomes the question of bypassing existing sales and distribution channels -- possibly cannibalizing revenue and relationships.

On the other hand, dotComs have the advantage of being able to start from a clean slate, building not only information systems, but also logistics management for tangible products...from scratch. These advantages are obviously significant if well planned and executed perfectly, particularly if the existing businesses stand idle while the dotComs move in.

In short, brick and mortar businesses must develop a strategic relationship with an experienced Internet firm in order to compete with the dotComs looking to capture market share, ramp up sales, and cash out. The Internet has proven it's long-term efficacy and it's only a matter of time before a dotCom makes their way into your industry, if they haven't already.

Lance Ware is CEO of WareNet.