Internet Commerce to Grow 22-Fold by Year 2000, Says IDC
(Did he say 22x -- YES!!!)
Paris, Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Internet commerce could grow
22-fold over the next four years, driven by business-to-business
transactions, said International Data Corporation, a U.S.
research firm.
IDC expects the global market for Internet commerce to grow
to $221 billion in 2001 from $10 billion in 1997. Business-to-
business sales are expected to make up two-thirds of the total,
said Frank Gens, IDC's senior vice president of worldwide
research, at the European IT Forum 1997 in Paris.
``Business-to-business commerce will be the first major
activity,'' followed by consumer transactions, said Gens.
Joining the chorus of such industry leaders as Intel Corp.'s
Andrew Grove and Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates, who have said
Europe is being left behind by the U.S. and Asia-Pacific when it
comes to adopting information technology, Gens said IDC research
shows Europe has been relatively slow to embrace the Internet.
Only 16 percent of the European businesses surveyed have a
home page on the Internet, compared with 30 percent in the U.S.
and Japan, and 52 percent in Asia excluding Japan.
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