Dickeson--Where Does e-Commerce Fit?

Marketing, we often say, is finding and filling a need. What's the "need" we're filling? Is it for a "shelf" item—a product—a commodity? Then the customer relationship is impersonal. If it's for a "service," then it's personal, up close.

In most commercial printing, there's an element of mutual creativity between customer and printer. Proofs fly back and forth with discussions and comments between the parties, until some esthetic objective is attained. On one hand, the customer can simply order letterhead from a catalog—a shelf-type product.