Clicks and Mortar…But Mostly Mortar

Roberto Baldwin over at Wired has pulled together a hilarious compilation of TV ads from the dot-com bubble, all from Web-based companies that met their end sometime in the late ‘90s or early 2000s.

One of the most striking revelations -- other than that Whoopi Goldberg can be a little creepy -- is how many of the startup sites relied on massive bricks and mortar back ends rather than replacing them.

WebVan.com, for instance, offered to send trucks full of groceries to your home -- and put them away for you -- in 30 minutes or less. Kozmo.com promised to replace the corner store by offering free delivery of magazines, gum and Life Savers. I guess because the corner store was just too far away?

Maybe the biggest hole in their business models was the presumption that the Web could do anything to change the price of gas and labor.