ICGE and B2B..........Business To Business E-Commerce To Take Off
By Steve Gold, London
Business to business (B2B) trading across the Internet may be in its infancy, but
the fledgling market will account for around 12.7 percent of European GDP (gross
domestic product) by 2004, a report out today predicts.
The "Business-to-Business E-Commerce Report: An Investment Perspective,"
from Durlacher Research, says that the market will be worth $408 billion, such
will be the rate of growth in this new market area.
Durlacher says that it expects to see B2B e-commerce taking off to this extent
because trading hubs will fit into the center of a wider industry trend towards
convergence between networks, IT/software, and content/media.
The IT research firm bases its report on the success that existing trading hubs
from the likes of Ford, General Motors, and Daimler- Chrysler have enjoyed.
The report predicts that the bulk of the growth in B2B e-commerce will stem from
specialist hubs, rather than general Web portals.
Sarah Skinner, the firm's Internet analyst, said that trading hubs will allow
companies based on existing businesses, but who have access to the benefits of
the Internet - defined as "clicks and mortar" firms - to benefit most from these
trading hubs, rather than pure Internet operations.
The report says that existing markets - such as repair, maintenance and
operations - will benefit initially from B2B e-commerce, while service industries,
such as the printing business, will also benefit in the short term. |
