Virtualizing Brick-and-Mortar Retailing

Just in time for the holidays, e-commerce operators are ramping up their brick-and-mortar efforts. As detailed over the weekend by the New York Times, Amazon and eBay, the two giants of e-commerce, are locked in an increasingly fierce battle for control of the streets, as they compete to offer customers in major cities same-day - or even quicker - delivery of orders placed online. Amazon now offers same-day delivery in 11 cities while eBay last month announced plans to expand its eBay Now same-day service to 25 cities in 2014.