That figure, however, represents only 1.6% of the total retail spend, a stark illustration of exactly how significant retail e-business is. Some sectors are growing much faster than others. Travel, in particular, is fulfilling the high expectations that were set long ago, neatly illustrating one of the internet’s most persuasively useful attributes: » Read more: Internet: It’s The Old Economy, Stupid Part (3)

Yahoo combined some smart acquisitions of companies with paying customers, such as the HotJobs recruitment company, with a new strategy de- signed to make people pay for things such as classified advertising and e-mail services. The result is a more diverse business with multiple revenue streams that continues to post profits, despite a general decline in the advertising market that constitutes 60% of its revenue. » Read more: Internet: It’s The Old Economy, Stupid Part (2)

Not every company burned out in the dotcom supernova. The few companies that built businesses around large and sustain- able numbers of customers are still in business, most notably Amazon and eBay. Amazon reported a net profit for the first time from its sales in the last quarter of 2001 and has many loyal customers; » Read more: Internet: It’s The Old Economy, Stupid