Irish post offices and small shops should become major distributors for etailers to ensure their survival, management consulting firm Deloitte & Touche has said. Deloitte said post offices and small retailers should become pick-up and delivery depots for products ordered on the Internet, a move which could help small post offices and firms in declining rural markets.
"The stumbling block for e-tailers has been getting the purchased goods to the consumer. Uncertain delivery times mean that often goods are returned because the purchaser is not at home to accept delivery," according to Mr Ronan Nolan, partner at Deloitte & Touche.
CORR PRODUCT: The Corrs have added their voice to the growing number of musicians worried by the threat of downloading music. Jim Corr said it was "imperative" there was a legal environment in place to protect artists.
TAKING COVER: Lloyd's of London will offer up to $100 million in insurance coverage to clients of computer security management firm Counterpane Security against hacker losses to their business.
COMBAT CARNIVORE: US civil liberties groups have railed against a system known as Carnivore which allows the FBI intercept and read huge amounts of email. The system scans an ISP's emails for messages associated with the target of an investigation.
FREE CD: The Golden Pages is running a free trial CD-Rom directory containing business and residential listings for the whole country. It is available from www.goldenpages.ie/cdrom
A BELLY FULL: Sinead O'Connor amongst others has released the first charity single to be created and sold via the Net. O'Connor teamed up with Thomas Dolby and dance crew Coldcut to record Bob Marley's Them Belly Full (But We Hungry). It is available from www.warchild.org.uk