That last post about the blog Brownstoner parlaying its readership into a seemingly successful flea market reminded me of something else I've been thinking about: The re-rise of e-commerce.
So many of the e-commerce startups back during Web 0.9 were just Amazon.com clones whose model was basically: Sell $1.00 for $.90 and hope to make it up on volume (they didn't). When most of those died (Pets.com, gardens.com, wine.com {wine.com again} and Buy.com) people stopped doing e-commerce start-ups. Now it's all digital media all the time.
But I think e-commerce is coming back, only the new startups aren't trying to replicate the Amazon.com model. You've got stuff Brooklyn-based Etsy, the community/marketplace for handmade goods, and buying clubs like Gilt Groupe (to be honest, I don't quite get what they do, but I know they do something). There are also new transactional models built on top of content -- kind of like TheKnot.com (NSDQ: KNOT) except interesting. Another one I came across based in New York is Notes on a Party, which is a content site about event planning that then points to various vendors of premium event-related goods and services. The blog TreeHugger, which has been around for awhile now, melds green content and green buying. I'm sure there are tons more.
All in all, I suspect there will be a lot more startups kind of doing the digital media thing, but exploring more transactional (or lead-genish) opportunities to make money, as opposed to purely just advertising. There's a lot of room for innovation in internet-driven commerce, and the big players like Amazon and eBay (whose core business models haven't evolved in a decade) should be wary of small upstarts that find new hooks for consumers.
Also, for that matter, the traditional internet lead-gen business will probably see a shakeup before too long, as the game of search engine/advertising arbitrage will only go on so long, before a) the arb is closed and b) there are no new categories to enter.
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