ABSTRACT
The years 1998 to 2002 have seen a 320 per cent increase in the number of Web sites, at the same time as the number of business failures associated with Web-based companies has increased dramatically. These two sets of facts would appear to contradict each other and they provide opposing perspectives on the reality versus rhetoric debate. In this chapter, we will examine the overt reasons why companies have Web sites. This will involve examination of the sites of small businesses, especially those involved in areas of production in rural regions – those types of business that would appear to have most to benefit from expanding their trading horizons by bringing themselves to the attention of a wider public. This examination will differentiate such sites according to their offerings: information; product marketing; sales; service provision; and attempts to attract ‘real’ visitors to their shop or factory. In the first section we will examine the purposes for which businesses have designed their Web sites and in the second, what actual effect it has had on consumers.
