Introduction

The Internet is arguably the most important business phenomenon of the new millennium. The Internet is arguably the most important business phenomenon of the new millennium. But optimism for this new commerce tool has waned just as the new millennium has dawned. Companies know that e-commerce is an important part of their business, but customer acquisition costs have proven to be two, three, four, and in some cases, even ten times as expensive as acquiring a customer in the real world.

To make matters worse, investors began to pull money away from dot-com companies in the year 2000, and this withdrawal has meant less money for advertising. The end result is that dot-com companies are finding that they can no longer afford the high ...

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