When we started publishing our B2BMarketingBiz newsletter in May 2000, I assumed that the so-called online B2B Exchanges would take over regular business marketing. I figured, give it 5 years and almost everything will be sold online.



A letter from reader Dan Shorts, CEO SpaElegance reminds me of how wrong we all were. He writes, "We started 3 years ago as your typical Business to Business online marketplace for destination spas, cruise spas, dayspa and high end salons that offer spa services. With the best manufacturers on board and a marketing program that was hitting the mark, the online orders never seemed to come. We had all the site traffic and registrations we could ever need, but no online sales to speak of."



However, when he switched tactics and used Web traffic and site email newsletters for lead generation purposes, relying on human being sales reps to close the actual sales, things took off. "We now have a difficult time keeping up with the demand."



However, he still expects Web commerce to take over from human sales reps someday, it's just a lot further out than 2005.