E-tailer extraordinaire

Not very many people realize it, but the federal government

was an e-tailing pioneer, opening its first Web shopping mall in 1995, the same year that Amazon.com started "Earth's Biggest Bookstore." Back when Web technology was in its infancy, the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service opened the virtual doors to GSA Advantage!. Today, Advantage! handles more than 1,000 orders worth about $500,000 every day. The site, www.gsaadvantage.gov, is open 24-7 and receives more than a million hits each day-during the day, someone searches the site every second and at night a federal worker, usually in Europe, Asia or elsewhere, conducts a product search every minute. The site's virtual shelves hold a million products offered by 2,221 of the 7,875 vendors that hold contracts with GSA.

Using Advantage!, federal buyers with purchase cards or agency accounts can search for products and services over the Web instead of reviewing whatever paper catalogs happen to be in the office. They can order online instead of calling vendors, waiting for price quotations and then placing orders. Advantage! also eases procurement for employees and military service members stationed outside the United States. Time zone differences make it tough for these people to order products by phone from vendors and supply depots, but time zones don't apply on the Web. In four years, Advantage! has processed $200 million in sales. During an average shopping session on the site, a federal employee buys four items and spends between $450 and $500, says Ed O'Hare, FSS chief information officer. "Yesterday we had 600,000 purchases for $500,000."