Report: E-Commerce to Reach $28 Billion This Year

The electronic commerce marketplace–defined as the sale of goods via the Internet, proprietary online services and CD-ROM–is projected to grow 57.7% to an estimated $28.2 billion this year, according to an industry report.


The research report from Simba Information Inc. in Stamford, CT said that business-to-business commerce will total $19 billion in 1998, accounting for 67.3% of the electronic marketplace overall and making it by far the largest segment in the industry.


The report is entitled “The Electronic Marketplace 2002: Strategies for Connecting Buyers and Sellers.”


The electronic marketplace is forecast to experience annual growth of more than 30% for the next five years, reaching $102 billion in 2002, the report says. Business-to-business commerce is expected to continue to drive much of the growth, accounting for 64.3% of total sales in 1999, 61.5% in 2000, 59.4% in 2001, and 56.8% in 2002.


The second largest e-commerce segment is computer products and services, which
is forecast to account for a 23.6% share of the market in 1998 and a 28.7%
share of the market by 2002.


Perhaps not surprisingly, the report also found that books and music are the
top-selling consumer product categories on the Web. Electronic sales of books
and music products are forecast to total $625 million in 1998, up 140.4% from
1997, the report says. Electronic sales in the two categories are projected to
reach $3.4 billion by 2002.


The 184-page report contains more than 40 statistical tables and charts, and
detailed chapters covering electronic commerce activity in the computer,
business-to-business, music, book, consumer goods and travel segments of the
industry.


The report also features 22 profiles of various electronic
marketers, including 800-Flowers, Amazon.com, America Online, Barnes & Noble,
CDNow, Cisco Systems, Lands’ End, Preview Travel and The Sharper Image.
Pricing for the report was not disclosed.

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