It is tempting to say that Web business is business on the Web, but there is much more to it than that. The Internet has facilitated new ways of doing business and hence new businesses. World-wide, real-time auctions (eBay), books and other products sold through affiliate programs (Amazon.com) and third-party perishable inventory sales (invented but perhaps not perfected by Priceline.com) are examples of businesses that require the Internet to operate.

Of course, some Internet commerce is simply an extension of sales to a new channel of distribution. Wal-Mart on the Web is an Internet version of the traditional retail chain and Red Envelope is a gift store on the Web that could, conceivably, exist without the Internet. Indeed, the most successful e-commerce stores right now are so-called "bricks and clicks," which are brick and mortar stores with Web sites.

Other sites serve information and service functions for traditional businesses, but even here there are many examples of services that are highly-dependent on the Internet, such as package tracking for Federal Express or UPS.