How will online business affect business overall? Will Amazon have an impact on the physical world?
Well, customers are going to have more power online, and they’re going to get used to that and like it. And they’re going to insist on it everywhere. Q: Even when merchants learn how to use the Internet to their own benefit? In other words, this isn’t just a temporary phenomenon given the merchants who haven’t learned how to control it? A: No, no, no, no. It’s not that at all. It’s an intrinsic characteristic of the Internet that customers are going to be able to tell people the truth. It’s not just journalists who buy ink by the barrel anymore. Q: If this shift in balance of power is so fundamental, won’t that change how companies are organized? For instance, perhaps marketing won’t be driving things as much? A: Yeah. That’s exactly what’s going to happen. It’s going to force companies, if they want to flourish, to focus on building great products and great services that speak for themselves, instead of trying to convince people that their service is good enough. And if you don’t thin
