How to Succeed in E-Business

However, the myriad e-commerce start-ups trying to woo new customers with the latest in e-commerce technology inevitably causes some confusion. "The information is bouncing around," said Warner. "There are lots of rumors and scare tactics and lots of misinformation."

Warner added that he doesn't feel the commotion will settle down anytime soon. "It might even be speeding up," he noted.

In order for the disturbance to calm, print manufacturers, buyers and distributors must research the market and make decisions about which solutions they want to offer and with whom they want to partner.

Despite the confusion, most e-commerce companies claim to be experiencing almost unheard of growth rates. One such company is New York-headquartered 58k.com, which provides an online bidding service meant to introduce printers and buyers.

"We continue to grow at 3 percent to 5 percent per day in terms of usership," said David Robb, vice president of sales and marketing. "I ran a graphic arts finishing company for about 10 years, and I was happy with a double-digit growth year by year—now if I don't have double digit growth every week, I wonder what we did wrong."

Robb attributed the success of his company's system to its simplicity. "We bring printers sales, and we bring buyers good pricing and new relationships," he said. "It's not a difficult system to sell."

Although Robb said response has been overwhelmingly positive, he has met some resistance to his product. "Some feel that we potentially will commoditize the industry," he said. "But I believe that forms, labels, envelopes and digital printing already are commoditized to some extent."

While Robb claimed most print jobs can be sold through his system, he admitted that some do not apply. "We we view ourselves as a source for at least 50 percent of any print buyer's needs," he said. He added that very high-end jobs and extreme short runs—such as annual reports or 50 church bulletins—would not benefit from the bidding system.