I am curious whether the jury is out on so-called "Mall" sites on the
Internet, or whether this is even a meaningful metaphor on the web. Real
(as opposed to virtual) shopping malls are typically comprised of a
disparate collection of stores located for geographic convenience to
consumers. However, given the distributed nature of the net, it is not at
all clear to me that the mall metaphor is particularly logical in this medium.
On the other hand, there are a number of sites emerging that feature
collections of companies from similar industries (e.g., Dealernet). It
seems to me that if a "virtual mall" is a horizontal collection of
dissimilar enterprises, then industry-specific sites are the exact opposite,
a vertical collection of similar companies.
Any thoughts about the validity of these distinctions, whether virtual malls
are proven or failed concepts, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Also, if
anyone has any references to good, solidly researched studies about the
relative effectiveness of Virtual Mall versus Vertical Marketplaces, please
let me know.
Sincerely,
Jim Garven
jim@risknet.com
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