In the last three years, Polish banks have become increasingly interested in providing retail services over the Internet. Generally speaking, it is possible to identify six strategies in this area. The first one is no presence on the Web - a good solution for the banks addressing the public who are not on-line. This second strategy is to use the Web for marketing purposes. Banks have greatly improved their Internet-based communication with customers; however, there is still considerable potential for further improvement in this area in terms of building long-term relationships. The third strategy is to develop a new product, an Internet-operated account. The banks who have opted for this solution tend to emphasise the convenience and better customer access to the funds stored on the account. The weakness of this strategy is the limited range of services offered under the arrangement. Therefore, a fourth strategy has been developed, which involves using the Internet as a distribution channel through which most of a bank's products are available.

Still another strategy has been adopted by banks with no previous presence in the retail market, who do not have a network of branches at their disposal. Those have subscribed to the concept of an Internet bank, which operates solely on the Web. The last strategy involves the idea of a virtual bank, an intermediary cooperating with banks and financial institutions and compiling a range of products tailored to the specific needs of a given target audience.

Judging by the number of banks launching Internet-assisted operations in the retail market, they are very optimistic as to the potential presented by this segment. However, neither the research nor the banks' first experience seem to support the initial enthusiasm. This why it may be useful to analyse their activities date, especially with respect to the cost and durability of the competitive advantage gained by a specific use of the Net. Such an analysis will enable us to assess the effectiveness of the various strategies and hence their usefulness in building banks' strategic advantage in the future.