ganizations, involving specialized information management divisions and purchasing offices. The mechanics of these transactions are entirely different from those of online consumer retail, just as the negotiation and closing of a contract between two large firms differs from a traditional retail sale.
However, much business-to-business selling, particularly among small businesses, has many of the same characteristics as consumer retail; the proprietor buying a desk for the back office goes through much the same process as an individual buying furniture for a home. At the same time, some online consumer sales have institutional characteristics. For example, the recent rapid growth in online securities trading has largely involved proprietory software provided by online brokerages to their customers, and thus differs from, say, searching Amazon.com or some other online bookseller to buy a book.
The discussion in this essay focuses on general individual retail transactions, whether the customer is a co
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