VIRTUALLY REAL: Web-based businesses are beginning to step through the
Looking Glass and set up shop in Alice's world.
Brick-and-mortar companies by the hundreds have established Web sites
with an eye toward commerce. At the same time, a number of new firms have
set up shop only on the Web. Now, a few of the latter are pushing through
to add mail-order catalogs and even physical stores to their virtuality.
Take Cyberian Outpost (www.cybout.com), arguably the Web's pre-eminent
outlet for computer products. In December, it added a storefront in Kent,
Connecticut, where customers can actually walk in and shop shelves.
Security First Network Bank (www.sfnb.com) has a single physical branch
in the mining community of Pineville, Kentucky, which it established
simultaneously last October with its far-reaching Web presence, complete
with free virtual toasters for new depositers.
The real-world presence doesn't have to be a store. Old media will do.
Pasta fans who frequent the gourmet food site The Flying Noodle
(www.flyingnoodle.com) also now can request a mail-order catalog. And
some Internet newsletters have added paper editions -- though at a higher
price than the e-mail versions.
Even Web-based creative talent is making the transition. Scott Zakarin
and Troy Bolotnick, the team responsible for the innovative on-line
serial The Spot (www.thespot.com) have just cut a deal with NBC to not
only do interactive projects, but also develop a pilot for a possible
prime-time TV series.
The reasons vary. In First Network's case, it's a nod toward federal
regulations; for Cyberian Outpost, it's a successful business spin-off;
and for The Flying Noodle, it's an effort to boost sales.
It's not that the Web is a farm team from which players graduate. Rather,
the Net is just one more location to do business. The really
forward-thinking will build with both pixel and mortar.
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