Many of you in the distribution industry are still wondering how much more change and future technology will impact your company. Will major producers, large chains and group alliances use the net as a weapon to replace you, the small to medium size manufacturer? Will you become road kill consumed by the vultures of platform roll-ups? Or perhaps the Internet will administer a slow, withering death, painful and extended.

Forget it. Banish that thought. When the dust settles you will still be around. The magic of the Internet is not really magic. Emerging technologies behind e-commerce are not going to kill your company tomorrow or the next day, or the next day after that. But, they are also not going to go away. However, E-commerce with regard to wholesale distribution has predominantly been hype and it is overrated, which is the case with most great technological revolutions. The impact of E-commerce has been overrated in the short-term and will probably be underestimated in the long run.

Undoubtedly technology has changed the way we think. The Internet has created a new channel to market but consider the failure of dot coms. The e-tailers of the world have suffered dramatic stock downgrades in spite of overall unprecedented growth rates. One of the major enlightenments realized by many dot.com companies who no longer exist (besides having a poor business model) is the fact that they lacked distribution experience

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