Also, according to Nielsen/Netratings, eleven of the fifteen most frequently visited Websites at the end of 2000 were firms with both online and off-line operations such as Toys 'R' Us and Barnes & Noble (Lee, 2001).
And, in the case of clicks and bricks companies, it is often difficult to separate their online and off-line operations. Although more reliable financial measures become available as e-business enters a more mature stage (Business Week, 5/12/2003), we decided not to collect objective measures for this study.
These sites should be maintained at minimal cost and regarded as a supplement to
off-line operations and, perhaps, as an additional channel for subscription sales.
No matter what the size of a company, the integration of information and of on- and off-line operations are important competitive differentiators.
Such integration of on- and off-line operations will allow companies to reinvent their value chains, thus opening up new sources of revenue and spawning new businesses.