Even More Virtual Retail

Start a Store Without Pesky Product

Zlio.com lets “shopkeepers” open an online store for free without any inventory. They populate the store by choosing from 3 million products, then earn money every time someone buys an item from the store (or sometimes, just clicks on it.) Shopkeepers also don’t handle logistics or payment. Zlio’s soft launched in September 2006 in France and March 2007 in the U.S.; its U.K. site launched today. Zlio hosts more than 220,000 stores so far and says about 1,000 are added per day. Of course this is yet more competition for e-stores that do stock their own stuff, not to mention yet more sales routed to the big guys that provide the inventory… but it is also a risk-free way to test the online retail waters.

Online Retail to Double Up

It’s not only the "virtual" part of virtual retail that’s growing, as above. The dollars and sense is growing too. US online retail, $175 billion in 2007, is projected to grow to $335 billion by 2012, according to market research company Forrester. Forrester also says online shoppers are less sensitive to adverse economic conditions than the average U.S. consumer, which is good news on what may be the verge of a recession. The bad news? Online is perceived as a second choice, is increasingly seasonal, and – despite the software’s name – online shoppers don’t browse much.