Asian e-commerce to double this year, analyst says
By Bloomberg News
Special to CNET News.com
August 18, 1999, 8:25 a.m. PT
Asia's electronic commerce is expected to double to $20 billion in 1999 from last year and hit $42 billion in 2000, boosted by growth in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, Lane Leskela, a senior analyst at Gartner Group said.
With more users gaining Internet access and purchasing online, "the growth potential for electronic business is enormous provided companies get everything right," he said.
Leskela noted that there are fewer Asian Web sites that do businesses over the Internet compared to their American counterparts.
In Asia, "it is more typical as it is in the rest of the world to find purchases on sites that are hosted in U.S. than a site in other countries," he said. "The money is spent here, but it is going to Web sites hosted in the U.S."
Recently, Microsoft said it will team up with Compaq Computer and Taiwan-based Systex--a software firm--to offer electronic-commerce services in Taiwan.
There are about 12 million subscribers linked to the Internet in Asia, according to the Gartner Group, a U.S.- based market researcher. This number is expected to grow to 90 million by 2003, thus providing an enormous opportunity for online businesses to reach out to.
Copyright 1999, Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved.
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