More supporting evidence from CeBIT:
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Boom beckons for European "online" business
Reuters Story - March 20, 1998 12:20
By Neal Boudette
HANOVER, Germany, March 20 (Reuters) - Europe is about to
see a boom in computer sales, electronic commerce and the
networks that make it possible for business to sell everything
online from shoes to cuckoo clocks, according to firms attending
Germany's CeBIT computer trade fair.
U.S. chip maker Intel Corp said on Friday that
legions of small firms making up 56 percent of western Europe's
economy, were rushing online. Electronic commerce in the region
would rise to $26 billion in 2001 from $3 billion this year.
"A year ago we were describing a technology deficit. Europe
was well behind North America," said Intel Europe chief Rob
Eckelmann. "That is rapidly changing, the gap is closing."
An International Data Corp survey, he said, had found 18
percent of companies in eight major west European nations were
trying to sell products over the Internet last year. This year
39 percent planned to get into cyberspace.
One example is Schuhhaus Eduard Meier, a German shoe
retailer that lets customers view video clips of how it makes
shoes by hand and see available models in 3-D images that can be
turned and seen from all angles.
Owner Peter Eduard Meier said 300 people visited its website
on Thursday and half later came into its store. "We have a lot
of male customers who don't have time to shop, so they go to the
Internet at night," he said.
Another example is Rombach und Haas, a German maker of
cuckoo clocks, that has turned to the Internet to help offset
the damage done to its domestic sales by the weakness of the
German economy in recent years.
Shoppers around the world can use its website to view its
clocks from all angles and hear their distinctive chimes before
pointing and clicking their way to an online order.
Intel is not the only large company alive to the way small
firms are now using the Internet.
COMPAQ Computer Corp has launched a worldwide
strategy to target small and medium-sized businesses. It says
this segment of the PC market is growing by 18 percent annually
and will represent more than half of the total PC market by
2000.
The technical and financial hurdles for a company storefront
on the World Wide Web have fallen dramatically.
One study found small companies have seen sales per employee
rise 25 to 75 percent after they begin using PCs, Intel's
Eckelmann said.
One of the main barriers to the Internet for many Europeans
has been the high price of using phone lines to get online. But
fierce competition since markets were opened in January is
beginning to force prices down.
In Germany, Europe's largest telecoms market, all three main
rivals to former monoply Deutsche Telekom AG plan to launch
national Internet access services this year. Telekom responded
this week by slashing charges at its online service T-Online.
Competition has also led to improved service and is forcing
carriers to meet the surge in demand for network capacity.
Jozef Cornu, President and Chief Operating Officer of French
telecoms equipment maker Alcatel Alsthom, said ADSL would boost
Internet access by a factor of 10 to 100 and lead to new
services such as video Web sites.
While Europe's interest in e-commerce is rising, it is
nearing full gallop in the United States. IDC's research
concluded that U.S. e-commerce would total $22 billion this year
and top $155 billion in 2001. Worldwide, the total would hit $28
billion this year and $223 billion in 2001, IDC said.>>> |
