Workshop web sites
The Science Generation program's ambition (developed by Altavia Junium together with Altavia Novactive, on behalf of the Aventis Foundation - Institut de France) is to is to develop an interactive platform for scientists, decision-makers, etc. to think together on a new mode on society's choices on the biosciences topic. An information portal and relay sites broadcast local initiatives (such as conferences). One purpose of the portal and the relay sites is to gather information from workshops' discussions in the regions. The portal and relay sites have been developed on the Novadeck technology. Relay sites have been easily duplicated thanks to its original dynamic web sites' generation system. From a site template, it is possible to create in a few clicks one web site per community. Relay web sites are entirely dynamic and can be personalized. They are administered by their users (with no technical background). Members of the relay web sites contribute to the site according to their administration rights (administrator, moderator, co-ordinator, editor...). They have access to a dialog and experiences' exchange area which is constantly up-to-date, thanks to, among other things, direct contributions of its visitors. The syndication functionality gives the possibility to share content between the relay sites and the portal. Content display on the site is personalized according to the profile of the user (parent, child, scientist,...). Webmail gives the possibility to all to manage their email account and to send and receive newsletters (in accordance with their administration rights).
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Science Generation relay sites are a perfect illustration of the decentralization and democratisation tendency of web site management. Thought as a communication tool for regional workshops, they give the possibility to "standard" users to express themselves and share ideas thanks to a publication interface. Selected content can be shared on different relay sites or published at the national level thanks to the content syndication system. Such a reactivity could not have been reached with a traditional content management system. It would have been necessary to use the services of a technical intermediary, thus reducing to nothing the main principle of Science Generation.
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Retailers web sites
French retail network Magasin U took the turn of local web sites in October 2001 by launching 80 local web sites available both from the Magasins-u.com portal and from their own URL (ex. http://www.marcheu-marseille.com). After having studied their competitors' approach, Système U chose the "e-services" instead of "e-commerce" direction. Local web sites offer local information (TV programs, news, cinema timetables) and services in their customer catchment area (delivery, pictures' development, etc. ). Système U foresees the opening of 400 local web sites by 2002 (Systeme U counts 800 shops).
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The choice made by Système U shows that the web can be used for other ends than e-commerce, provided that is brings useful information and services to the visitors. Local web sites answer these needs and are also a tool to attract visitors to the shop and increase customer loyalty. After the ups and downs of online sales due to faulty logistics, companies start to realize that Internet and retail shops are not in competition but should be complementary for business development.
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Conforama has chosen to combine local web and e-commerce in order to reinforce synergies between online sales and retail shops, in order to increase traffic to the shops, which is the priority n° 1 of the brand. Indeed, turnover growth needed to be sustained by a web presence rather than to be cannibalised by a global e-commerce web site competing with the retail shops. Orders made on the local web sites are thus dispatched to the retail shops according to the customer catchment area. Moreover, this decentralized strategy has the advantage to rely on the existing logistics of the retail shops for delivery and after-sales, without having to develop a parallel system to sustain mail-order selling.
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The Conforama project has been developed in about 8 months. It notably needed to integrate back office sales management tools already in use in the retail shops. The project, which has been finalized in July 2000, already has positive results: promoted by an important marketing campaign, the new web site has generated an important business traffic towards the shops. It would be advisable nonetheless to complete this system based on the shops by a real site for each point of sale where they could directly communicate with their clients and prospects.
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Car dealers sites
French car manufacturer Renault puts its car dealers at the center of its new Internet strategy. They are indeed unavoidable in cars selling since European manufacturers have no legal right to sell directly on the net. Above all however, car dealers are essential for the sales act (negotiation, persuasion) as well as for after sales (maintenance, guarantee, options, etc.). On the Renault.fr portal, the 840 French car dealers benefit from a personal space where clients can contact them once they have chosen the model they want or when they want to make an appointment. Car dealers can also publish their second hand offers online, which is typically a useful service if handled locally. An "Internet coordinator" per car dealer site has been trained; his role is to answer emails and to publish second-hand ads and special offers.
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This network of sites based on the model of car dealers' networks is particularly adapted to the automotive sector where car dealers are an intangible element of the distribution chain. Car dealers' web sites would have all the more impact if they were real web sites, with their own URL (on the contrary to a sub-directory lost somewhere in the portal pages) and with intrinsic dynamic features (instead of a few static pages). Management of the site without prior technical training would also be a real advantage.
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The calling into question of the new economy has prompted firms already on the Net to downsize their internet projects. After e-commerce sites and centralized portals, a new tendency is emerging, based on a more pragmatic approach of the web's stakes, namely local web sites. Typical of this new tendency is the success of companies like e-local which just raised 30 million FF to develop "city-guides". These web guides displaying practical information and local news for every city are blossoming. According to a survey by CoSpirit Research on consumers' attitudes offline and online, 70% of the shoppers use the internet to get information, though they generally prefer buying in a "physical" shop. A local web site's mission is to address people close to the company by providing local information and services. This sort of site is administered in a decentralized way; a chain does not need to put effort on the management of its central portal anymore. All it needs to do is to favour the emergence of a network of local web sites, managed by the points of sale themselves and who are in position to bring value added services that will generate traffic to the stores. 
