Re: Ummmm
"In other words, their use of IT does not differentiate them from their competitors in any significant way."
Leaving aside the obvious differentiation between the mom and pop store with an ebay shop and the one without there are other things that can make an important difference like whether they have voicemail or whether they use caller ID to call back a customer whose call they missed because they were "on the other line" or whether they implement a telephony system that allows queuing and if they do, whether they choose to tell you where you are in the queue or not. Even the way they deal with the humble telephone can affect and effect repeat business.
My local butcher got a card payment terminal recently - that differentiates them against all the local butchers who don't take card payments.
Just because they only have to worry about cooling dead pigs instead of servers, it doesn't mean they're immune to the march of the machines.