Then came the Net and everything changed.

The masses rushed to build their websites, launch their ill-conceived new online business models and waited for fortune to descend on them.

Alas -- t'was not to be.

Every day we now read how the huge inrush of confidence and fortune which was the Internet tide has turned and is now heading back out to sea.

Not only are investors heading for the hills but many of the businesses which launched at high-tide are now wildly throwing staff overboard in an attempt to avoid running aground as the water level continues to fall.

However, with the likes of Amazon.com announcing that they're effectively creating a physical presence through Borders and as they edge ever-closer to making a profit, perhaps a real formula for success is emerging from the murky waters at last.

Maybe the answer isn't to take a physical retail business and try to virtualise it on the Net -- but to build a virtual business and leverage its success to make a move into the physical world.

The owners of a local website rcmodels.com seem to be following this path. To date they've done a brilliant job of harnessing the power of the Net to turn a good idea into a commercially successful operation and now, in the wake of their Net success, they're planning a move into the world of bricks and mortar.

Yes, they are doing so well that they're about to open a real live physical shop in Christchurch so as to better serve the local marketplace.

Congratulations guys and good luck -- we'll be watching.

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Oh, How Careless?
The issue of spamming versus "permission based marketing" just isn't going to go away is it?

Of course we all know that, thanks to NZ's privacy laws, when you're collecting someone's personal information you have to state the purpose for which it's being collected and use it only for that purpose.

I wonder what IDG could have been thinking about though when they put up this competition entry form (screen dump of original is here).

Is it just an accident that the "spam-me" box is tucked right down at the bottom of the page, miles away from the other fields and the submit button?

Is it just an accident that it says "spam me" by default rather than requiring the user to consciously choose to receive "relevant items that may be of interest."

Working out the answers to these questions are left as an exercise for the reader :-)

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