The battle for the 21st century is now clear: inside, traditional brick and mortar companies are digging in for the fight of their lives; outside, a tightening circle of dot.com upstarts threaten to transform every feature of the economy. Is the war over already?

Mary Modahl thinks not; instead, she anticipates that the coming five years will be decisive--which is why companies that want to stay alive and thrive must act Now or Never.

The key to success in the brave new world of e-commerce is a deep and nuanced understanding of how consumers think about and use the Internet. Forrester Research--the world's most respected technology research firm--has developed that understanding in a groundbreaking model of consumer behavior called Technographics. For the firsttime ever, Now or Never shares the Technographics model with business people outside Forrester's exclusive client list.

Built on interviews with more than 250,000 Americans, Technographics divides consumers into ten sharply identified segments based on differing attitudes toward the Internet. That means each segment will use e-commerce in a different way and dive into buying on-line at a different pace.

Using Technographics, businesspeople--from companies that are small or large, established or brand new, traditional or dot.com--will be able to plot a well-reasoned, robust Internet strategy.

Beyond Technographics, the book also identifies and explains the startling, counterintuitive new business models that drive competition on the web. Now or Never introduces the concept of Dynamic Trade, a term that Forrester coined to describe the disruptive new way business gets done on the web.

With engaging prose that is chock-full of real stories, Modahl describes how Dynamic Trade changes the balance of supply and demand, requires companies to ramp up to scale faster ever, and zeroes out marginal cost.

As the battle for Internet dominance reaches a crisis, Now or Never stands apart. Written by a straight-talking business practitioner who knows and understands the Internet as well as anyone working today, this groundbreaking book confronts the most pressing business issue of our time with reasoned answers to the questions on the mind of every informed executive:

• When will the Internet change the way I do business?

• Why is the Internet transforming everything about the economy and competition?

• How exactly will my industry and company change, in terms of customers, competitors, cash flow, and the bottom line?

  AND

• What should I do about it right now?