European Retail Research: 2008 - Volume 22

Fifteen years after its commercial launching, the Internet has become the second most imp- tant distribution channel (after high street retailing) and a major source of customer infor- tion and empowerment (Urban 2003, 2005; Constantinides/Fountain 2008). A number of - cent developments in this field threaten to further weaken the role of traditional retailing in a number of sectors where retailers and intermediaries have always played an important role. Music, entertainment, press, printing/publishing and traditional travel agents are some of the branches that have already felt the negative effects of Internet-enabled disintermediation. The web has made possible the direct contact between producers and consumers, making the physical retailer of information-based products or intangibles redundant. These developments are widely seen as effects of the Internet evolution and have been ext- sively discussed and debated. However, over the last three years, a new generation of online tools, applications and approaches such as blogs, wikis, online communities and virtual worlds, commonly referred to as Web 2. 0 or Social Media, are increasingly attracting the - tention of practitioners and, recently, of academics. As often happens when revolutionary - novations become booming business, research and theoretical underpinning on the Web 2. 0 issue is still very limited and there is not even a generally accepted definition. What most people would agree though is that a fundamental element of Web 2.

Prof. Dr. Dirk Morschett, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Thomas Rudolph, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Peter Schnedlitz, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Austria
PD Dr. Hanna Schramm-Klein, Saarland University, Germany
Prof. Prof. h.c. Dr. Bernhard Swoboda, University of Trier, Germany