It was just over three years ago when the dot-com bubble burst. Since then, 4,854 Internet companies have been either acquired or have shutdown (Webmergers). TheStreet.com's Internet Index , which was widely thought of as the best proxy for the Internet industry has dropped a staggering 93% since March 2000. While there have been hoards of companies going belly up, there are still a select few who have built a solid business model and still flourish in the e-world. .
Successful Internet companies took a more conservative approach to the game of e-commerce. Instead of aiming for market share, they focused their energy on attaining profit. Unlike most of the companies that went public at the time, these businesses wanted to have dividends, profits, earnings before and after taxes, and positive revenue growth projections. Without being concerned about profitability companies were never clear on their gross margins. Instead they would use costly tactics, such as waiving delivery fees (pets.com) to attain a greater market share and in turn, hurting profitability. On the other hand, the surviving dot-com's would offer discounts on future purchases as not only an incentive to purchase now, but to return and build a relationship with the company. Business that put profits first could use their income that they so patiently built to gradually attain a greater market share without hurting future revenues or financial reserves.
Companies who outlasted the Internet bomb spent their money wisely. Businesses that spent money like there was no tomorrow, consequently had no tomorrow. During the dot-com boom investors were pushing companies to take and spend boat loads of money, even if the companies weren't ready. The successful companies still took the money, but didn't use it unless it would add relative value to the business. These companies didn't find it necessary to spend 2-3 million for a 30 second commercial during the super bowl.