Despite the fact that dot coms have not had a great track record on Wall Street, they have clearly had a positive influence on the distribution supply chain. Furthermore, it's true even for the failed dot coms. That's according to Chris Hauser, vice president of operations at drugstore.com.

In a special keynote presentation at the SupplyChainLinkExpo, Hauser explained that dot coms have empowered consumers while offering them options they never before had open to them. For the first time, consumers have access to information about all stages of the order process, some of which they can now use to make buying decisions.

The end result of these shifts instigated by the dot coms, explained Hauser, has been increased speed of order processing without sacrificing accuracy or completeness. He continued to point out that this has raised the performance bar for brick-and-mortar companies too.