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By Pia Heikkila, 29 June 2000 00:25

NEWS European ecommerce will only take off when bricks-and-mortar companies and internet start-ups learn the secrets of each other's success. According to a study published by online incubator Protégé and the London School of Business, the secret of successful business-to-consumer (B2C) e-tailing is that traditional companies must adopt the enthusiasm and energy that drives many start-ups. Dot-coms need to embrace the business know-how and sophisticated marketing strategies of their traditional counterparts. Larry Levy, CEO of Protégé, added that at present, both parties are failing to recognise each other as a potential threat. He told silicon.com: "Over 40 per cent of the respondents in our study in both groups thought competitive threat was unlikely which is alarming. Both business types are ignoring one driving force behind any successful enterprise - healthy competitive paranoia." Professor Patrick Barwise of the London Business School, said: "New companies are behaving like arrogant teenagers, focusing on short-term objectives and unwilling to change, whereas old companies are just not quick enough to catch up with technology implementations and their possibilities." Barwise added that online retailers are returning to the high street to re-learn customer service and fulfillment practices. "I would not be surprised to see amazon.com building a bookstore," he said. But Jo Mosaku, advertising and sponsorship director of online retailing store zoom.co.uk, disagreed with the study's conclusion. "We're constantly following our competitors' moves and see the traditional retailing outlets as our threat. But there is enough room in the market for multi-channel retailing," he said. The report, which is called "business.eu: Corporates versus web start-ups", surveyed 450 European companies.