Metamediary

A new breed of intermediate institutions is emerging to inform and advise customers, and to simplify their dealings with product and service providers. These metamediaries dramatically improve the efficiency and effectiveness of transactions in the Networked Economy. Metamediaries also redraw the boundaries of markets by creating metamarkets, which have no parallel in the physical world.

A metamediary provides a multivendor, multiproduct marketplace. The metamediary also provides multiple services—such as payment settlement, fulfillment, quality assurance, and procurement management. The use of a metamediary is likely if recovery of products is managed by a number of independent firms --as oppoesed to the OEM (original equipment manufacturer).

The Knot (www.theknot.com) and Ceremonie (www.ceremonie.com) are metamediaries for the bridal market (all you need for organising a wedding ceremony).