Tom, news relevant to XSNI>European E-Commerce To Hit $1 Trillion by 2004
By Chet Dembeck
E-Commerce Times
January 6, 2000 According to a new report by Forrester Research, European e-commerce will grow at triple-digit rates over the next five years to a total of more than $1 trillion (US$).
While this increased demand will quickly jump-start Northern Europe into e-commerce hyper-growth, the study found that Southern Europe will still lag behind, thereby preventing the region from closing their e-commerce gap with the U.S.
Critical Mass Formed In 1999
"With a critical mass of over 386 million consumers, the 17 countries of Western Europe represent the world's largest potential online trading bloc," the report says. "After a slow start, the region kicked off its first large scale e-commerce enterprises this year (1999)."
The report points out that 16 million European consumers came online in 1999, doubling Internet home penetration to nearly 49 million -- or 13 percent of the population. Forrester estimates that these new users racked up about $37 billion in online sales.
European Growth Factors
According to the report, several major factors contributed to this unexpected e-commerce windfall.
First, free Internet access greatly contributed to the e-commerce growth.
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