as is th ith today's market. The obvious implication is that the information available in physical market must also be available online to prevent search problems such as(a) and(d)in Figure 5.2 Intern Physical market Physical market 尖 Physical market Physical market Intern Figure5-2 Examples of an inefficient search market a) Some information relevant to selection is not available online (b)Access problem, where relevant information is not accessible (c)Access problem, where only some relevant informationis accessible (d) Traditional information access, where both online and off-linemethods have to be used Despite some reservations, search services play an important role by aiding consumers in the selection process. In this way, search services are in fact intermediaries who broker product information between sellers and buyers. According to the theory of disintermediation, electronic commerce represents a market where intermediaries will disappear because consumers can interact directly with producers. In such a market, consumers will not need search intermediaries since, for example, consumers will be able to use a powerful search program of their own. Todays search services in fact send out intelligent programs or automated robots to gather information about Web documents. Consumers, in theory, can employ their own agents who roam the cyberspace with a predetermined mission and report back to their owners. On the other hand search intermediaries may continue to serve in the electronic marketplace for several reasons 5.2.2 Search Efficiency in Intermediaries In terms of network traffic, individual agent-based searches will generate much duplication of accessing and downloading information since each consumer must send their own query over the network. This duplicative traffic can be minimized by using intermediaries who collect, process, and store the information The efficiency in intermediating potentially duplicative and wasteful information access on the Internet resembles that of wholesaling and retailing in physical markets. By handling products in bulk, wholesalers and retailers in physical markets minimize transportation costs in distributing these products to geographically dispersed end users. For digital products, however, a producer needs only to send one copy to a wholesaler or a retailer, and thus there is no reason to beas is the case with today's market. The obvious implication is that the information available in physical market must also be available online to prevent search problems such as (a) and (d) in Figure 5.2. A B C D Figure5-2 Examples of an inefficient search market (a) Some information relevant to selection is not available online. (b) Access problem, where relevant information is not accessible. (c) Access problem, where only some relevant informationis accessible. (d) Traditional information access, where both online and off-linemethods have to be used. Despite some reservations, search services play an important role by aiding consumers in the selection process. In this way, search services are in fact intermediaries who broker product information between sellers and buyers. According to the theory of disintermediation, electronic commerce represents a market where intermediaries will disappear because consumers can interact directly with producers. In such a market, consumers will not need search intermediaries since, for example, consumers will be able to use a powerful search program of their own. Today's search services in fact send out intelligent programs or automated robots to gather information about Web documents. Consumers, in theory, can employ their own agents who roam the cyberspace with a predetermined mission and report back to their owners. On the other hand, search intermediaries may continue to serve in the electronic marketplace for several reasons. 5.2.2 Search Efficiency in Intermediaries In terms of network traffic, individual agent-based searches will generate much duplication of accessing and downloading information since each consumer must send their own query over the network. This duplicative traffic can be minimized by using intermediaries who collect, process, and store the information. The efficiency in intermediating potentially duplicative and wasteful information access on the Internet resembles that of wholesaling and retailing in physical markets. By handling products in bulk, wholesalers and retailers in physical markets minimize transportation costs in distributing these products to geographically dispersed end users. For digital products, however, a producer needs only to send one copy to a wholesaler or a retailer, and thus there is no reason to be