1.   And cash flow was more important than customer tastes.

2.   Customer taste is a vital question this year given that the party circuit of electronic booksellers is about to get much more crowded and much louder.

3.   It remains to be seen if the Japanese model can be transplanted to North America and Europe, where markets are more fragmented and customer tastes vary.

4.   Most accept clothing based on how fashionable it is or how it fits customer taste of the moment.

5.   That allows the Austin, Texas-based company to hold very low inventories and move quickly to follow fast-changing customer tastes.

6.   In turn, their marketing strategy is constantly being improved to cater to changing customer tastes.