The Internet, with its octopus-like, global reach and affordable commercial

real estate, was going to rewrite the rules of commerce, giving corporate

CEOs and small-time home-business owners even odds at pioneering this

Online advocates gushed over how the Net would foster never-before seen

head-to-head competition between the commercial Davids and Goliaths in a

forum where ideas and ingenuity, not just money and clout, marked the

But as competition builds on the Internet, it appears that equal footing is

gradually slipping away beneath small and medium-sized companies.

After investing $50,000 just to get a seat at the commercial Internet table

a year ago, Baxter Phillip sees the Internet-induced level playing field as

myth. Net commerce still slants against the little guy, says the vice

president of the Chicago-area-based Phillip's 1-800-FLORALS, and he faces a

steeper incline all the time. "The Internet is like a huge mall in the

middle of the Sahara desert," Phillip says. "Once you get there, which is

the first hurdle, all the competitors are lined up together, one next to

the other. So where do you go? You gravitate

taking on corporate giants armed with only their ingenious, basement-

And as Internet commerce becomes subject to the same natural laws as the

because of the overall florist presence, it is now virtually impossible to

"Our competition doesn't tend to offer the extensive, professional reviews

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