While global e-commerce will grow rapidly in the next decade, the vast majority of transactions will continue to occur in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, according to a study released yesterday by Computer Economics.
E-commerce in those regions will comprise 94 % of all worldwide transactions this year, according to a study from the market researcher, and the market is expected to grow from $2.9 trillion this year to $9.5 trillion by 2003. At the end of that three-year period, transactions in those regions still will account for a whopping 93% of the worldwide total, the study finds.
At least another decade - and a lot of funding - is needed before e-commerce will grow globally, according to Michael Erbschloe, vice president of research for Computer Economics.
"Africa, South America, and parts of Asia are behind because the infrastructure hasn't been built out, and the costs are very high for people to get connected" to the Internet, Erbschloe says.
By 2003, business-to-consumer transactions in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific will account for 99.9 % of all business-to-consumer transactions worldwide, he says. While the business-to-business market is expected to be slightly more open, Erbschloe cautions that online marketers should be wary of targeting their products to individual consumers to build market shares in other regions that are less likely to experience high growth.
The Carlsbad, Calif.-based research firm collected information from its client base as well as the U.S. departments of State and Commerce and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Erbschloe says. Researchers considered four trends: Internet usage by country and area, international business relations and trade, types of trade and "the likelihood of favorable retribution for supply-chain applications," Erbschloe says.
Computer Economics can be reached at +1-760-438-8100 or on the Web at http://www.computereconomics.com.
RELATED LINKS
