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Lots of foot traffic but precious little buying.
That's the story at cyberspace stores these days, according to analysts and operators of electronic storefronts and so-called cybermalls.
Dozens of electronic malls have made splashy appearances in recent months, offering Internet surfers the ultimate convenience of popping into a widening assortment of stores to buy goods on-line or via 800 numbers.
But retailers and virtual mall owners acknowledge they have yet to witness any rush of new sales through this electronic channel. Some merchandisers have withdrawn from the Internet entirely after what seemed an encouraging start.
Consider The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. in Shelburne, Vt., which set up a World-Wide Web page last summer with Digital Equipment Corp. Within four hours of public availability, the page received 13,000 visits.
Six months later, the page is gone, and the toy maker is concentrating on more traditional marketing.
The page "got some response and sold some bears but not enough to warrant continuing at this time," said Andy Mager, national marketing supervisor at Vermont Teddy Bear. Mager, who was not responsible for the Internet page, said the site was independent of the company's inventory and billing systems and thus had to be manually updated.
When it comes to electronic commerce, the reality sinking in at many businesses is that the Internet, with 25 million to 30 million users worldwide, is a decentralized, often chaotic place. That makes it a challenge for sellers and buyers to find one another.
The traditional route
"We've been making two, three or four orders a day," said Chuck Haley, president and owner of Flower Stop MarketingCorp. in Colorado Springs.
Flower...