Niche businesses survive with the aid of e-commerce

Do you need a pair of shoes in a men's size 16? Mo and Lisa Morris may have just the thing. The couple have a shoe store in Austin (Texas) that opened last year. But their Web site, which they launched in 1998, accounts for 75 percent of their company's sales. For the Morrises, filling a niche has helped their business survive. Photo: Brian K. Diggs/Austin AMERICAN-STATESMAN.

In "Surf's Up On Web Shopping: As Amazon Ages, Smaller Retailers Get on Board," the Washington Post reports on small businesses with Internet presences. (Registration required to access the article.)

Success for independent businesses is based on a unique (or edited) selection of goods, with quality service and a decent, not necessarily the lowest, price. Internet sales can provide an added revenue stream. This is particularly true in the used book area, as most bookstores these days are linked to www.abebooks.com or www.amazon.com, and sell books through those venues as well.

But no market remains uncontested for long...