NYT: Internet Retailers Reaching Out to Mailbox Surfers

eBay's use of a glossy catalog-like direct mail piece illustrates the difficulty many large websites face in attracting new customers. While strong in online order taking, some sites find that, while their past growth came from frequent online shoppers, their future growth will need to be found elsewhere. eBay's catalog effort comes with some risk, though. Because it is an auction site, eBay isn't actually selling the items listed in the book. They are merely representative of stuff that can be found on the site. eBay and firms like Priceline may find that the non-standard shopping concepts (bidding, and in Priceline's case, haggling) aren't attractive to customers who haven't yet been bitten by online shopping.