Experiment proves dot-com retail lacks back-end structure

Traditional retailers will ultimately be more successful on the Web than dot-com start-ups, according to one ecommerce vendor.

Vivek Wadhwa, CEO of Relativity Technologies, claims dot-coms lack the back-end infrastructure to cope with a high-volume of sales transactions, and has come up with an unusual way of proving his point.

Wadhwa handed over his credit card details to his two sons, aged 11 and 16, and sent them shopping on the Net. Their mission: to come back with as much free stuff as possible.

A month later and the boys had accumulated quite a haul, including two RaveMP Portable MP3 players worth $250 each - acquired from http://www.e-music.com for a grand total of $50, plus $50 worth of free music. "My son only wanted one, but two were delivered," explained Wadhwa. "He called them [MP3.com] up and told them they had delivered too many - but they wouldn't believe him."

Another MP3 player worth around $150 was bought from http://www.valueamerica.com with discount vouchers for $20.

The boys also acquired free clothes from http://www.asimba.com by providing the site with ten of their friends' email addresses - despite the fact the addresses were fictional.

"I've created monsters out here, everyday I go home and we've had more delivered."

But Wadhwa claims there is a serious purpose to his experiment: "None of these stores have back-end infrastructure, people are setting up storefronts too quickly.

"Within 12 months or so the dot-coms will be killed off because the market will get tired of losing money. Brick-and-mortar firms will fight back because they have the legacy infrastructure to support the shop fronts," he said.