Gartner: Googazon Could Dominate Web Retail

ORLANDO, Fla.—As the World Wide Web evolves into a collection of Web services, one or two huge players could come to dominate retail search. Gartner analyst Hung LeHong laid out that scenario at the annual Gartner Symposium/ITxpo here.

"It's a scary scenario. A few major players could take over Web 2.0," said LeHong, suggesting that a merged entity such as Google and Amazon—call it Googazon—could mediate half of all online transactions.

For more from the conference, see: How CIOs Can Make Their Businesses More Competitive

LeHong termed such a role "pretailing," or serving as the place where consumers would search for a vendor and compare prices and special offers before buying.

"Googazon will sit between your customers and your company. It will be able to provide access to all retailers. It will close 30 percent of transactions and guide 50 percent of purchases in any channel. It will force full retail transparency, and will dictate how we compete," LeHong said.

By 2016, he said, "You will need to work with Googazon."

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