Investment firm Merrill Lynch said the online experience is only getting
better for consumers, and it expects business operations on the Web to tally a
20 percent increase in e-commerce and 14 percent rise in online travel
bookings growth from the second quarter of 2005.
Those numbers far exceed the total U.S. commerce and travel spending that
is expected to be up 6 to 8 percent and 4 to 5 percent
respectively, according to the company’s e-commerce research report.
“We believe the secular growth opportunity will continue to support
premium P/E (price to earning ratio) multiples versus offline retail/travel
peers for the foreseeable future,” the report said.
E-commerce sales and online travel bookings are on track to meet, but not
significantly beat, expectations, according to the firm. After a strong May,
the company said e-commerce sales volume dropped in June, eroding some
potential upside surprises.
“We aren’t expecting a significant change to the 2005/2006 margin outlook
for e-commerce leaders,” the report said. Margin pressures from offline
encroachment, comparison shopping (e-commerce and travel search), increasing
capital investment and higher advertising costs are likely to weigh on 2Q05
operating income growth rates.”
The projections arrive at a time when consumer confidence online appears
shaky, as reports of phishing and pharming attacks and lost or stolen
personal data spread.
However, according to research firm Gartner, one out of three Internet
users is buying less online because of security concerns related to data
breaches, identity theft and phishing attacks.
The survey of 5,000 U.S. adults said they worry more about thieves getting undetected access to private credit reports private credit reports and other sensitive financial data than
defending against phishing attacks.
“We are seeing unprecedented levels in consumer transactions online. Yet
businesses cannot rely on the Internet to lower costs and improve marketing
efforts indefinitely if consumer trust continues to decline,” Avivah Litan,
vice president and research director at Gartner, told internetnews.com last month.
The report called international expansion and consolidation “key growth
drivers” for the second quarter of 2005. Amazon and eBay
are well positioned to generate incremental growth from their existing e-commerce platforms, while Overstock and Priceline
should continue to experiment with new product initiatives, the firm said.
Merrill was also bullish on acquisitions by IAC, which bought AskJeeves,
and eBay’s grab of Shopping.com to create new domestic and international
revenue opportunities.
Although online business is set to boom, according to the report, the
stock outlook was mixed.
