The impetus underpinning the new economy is the sudden shift in the historic balance of power in the relationship between the seller and buyer. For more than 5,000 years, sellers held tight control over the sales cycle. Product information, market knowledge, and pricing were all closely guarded. The Internet dramatically altered this paradigm. With greater than half of the world’s population now online, the Internet has empowered consumers with access to virtually unlimited information, the ability to quickly evaluate every aspect of an offering, and the ultimate convenience of being able to switch to a competitor, if needed, with a single click of the mouse.