Middlemen Fight Back

from the don't-mess-with-the-middlemen dept

For years people talked about how the internet was going to cut out the middlemen. Recently, though, there have been lots of articles about how the internet may actually be strengthening the position of middlemen. Now, comes a study that suggests that these middlemen knew what they were doing. Ever since people thought that middlemen were going to get cut out, they've been fighting back, and supporting "protectionist" policies that have hurt direct e-tailers. This has ended up costing US consumers approximately $15 billion.
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  • identicon
    Puzzled, 1 Feb 2001 @ 3:48am

    Middlemen

    I've always been puzzled about these middle men that are being missed out. How much e-commerce do you actually do with anyone who isn't a middle man? Very little. I have, a couple of times, bought textbooks directly from a publisher, but those are the only times I can think of. Unless you are buying from the person who made/grew/created it (whatever it is) then there's someone in the middle! Amazon are middlemen par exellence!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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