GERMAN BOOK-SELLERS MOVE ONTO THE INTERNET.

Bookshops on the Internet, with their virtual shelves, massive store of reference material and 24-hour availability are flourishing in Germany, attracted by a market that promises to be as lucrative as it is hard fought over. At the beginning of 1998, amazon.com began trading in Germany. An American company with an established reputation, it acquired control of the cyber-bookshop telebuch.de. November has seen Bertelsmann launch Books Online, an electronic version of its book clubs.The German publishing giant has invested USD200 million in barnesandnoble.com, the on-line trading subsidiary of the American publishers Barnes&Noble. Oliver Bruecken, a Director of Buecher.de, another virtual bookshop, points out that the Internet is expanding rapidly and its potential is...