Nice article in the Wall Street Journal today entitled "Web Retailers Try New Game" by Mylene Mangalindan. The gist of the story is that we all know about the large etailers, but what about the specialty product sites? Mylene mentions several such as Zebrahall.com.

The fact is that this trend has been going on for years. But it is only in the previous few months that the business press is realizing that vertical "is in." Just as Danny Sullivan is predicting that vertical Search Engines might well be the next wave of Search, vertical shopping is already the next wave of etailing. We are even seeing this in the verticality of auctions sites, event ticket sites, travel sites and and a host of other fields.

Verticality is what has made our JupiterWeb sites more significant than the tired horizontal tech trade print magazines. Going further, our searchenginewatch.com owns the editorial side of the Search ad industry -- an honor that 5 years ago would have been part of the industry weekly Advertising Age.

Vertical is all over the place! We have been thriving in the business area of selling images online (photos, clipart and animations). Part of our success is the vertical slice we possess in the field of selling images by subscription. Others in the image arena have been slow or loathe to be in the subscription area and now it is really too late for them to catch us.

The moral of this post is that opportunities abound for those who can grab the vertical slice on almost any ecommerce or informational area. Internet opportunities are all around us. I cannot wait to see more vertical thrusts and ventures in the coming years.