Amazon is the standard-bearer for retailers without stores, but there is nothing standard about what the Seattle-based company has accomplished as it has grown into a $15 billion entity while operating in the black. Amazon is more about the future than last year’s results or this year’s performance, and it has blazed the e-commerce trail with operations so sophisticated that some observers view it as a technology company that happens to sell goods. Its potential is seen as larger that its accomplishments.

So good is it at what it does, Amazon lets other merchants piggyback on its capabilities through its web services operation. On its own, Amazon sells jewelry, watches, housewares, consumer electronics, home goods and all kinds of general merchandise, although books, music and movies account for half the revenues.

Both QVC and IACI/HSN have e-commerce operations, but their main selling venue remains television. But just as online retailing has made a dent in the sales of bricks-and-mortar merchants, so has it impacted TV-reliant home shopping retailers. A recent Nielsen survey indicated that, worldwide, 85 percent of people with Internet access have used it to shop.

HSN.com has been transformed into a dynamic stand-alone storefront with more than 40,000 products. The site provides shoppers with an array of unique features, including When-To-Watch e-mail reminders, an interactive Program Guide and Weekly Product Reviews. At QVC.com, enhancements included a wish list, the ability to print pre-paid return labels and improved auto-delivery management.