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Most people think e-commerce
means online shopping--workaholics pointing their browsers
to Amazon.com to order
an emergency present because they forgot someone's birthday
again.
But Web shopping is only a small
part of the e-commerce picture. The term also refers to online
stock and bond transactions and buying and downloading software
without ever going near a store. In addition, e-commerce includes
business-to-business connections that make purchasing easier
for big corporations. And many people hope that so-called
microtransactions will let people pay small amounts--a few
cents or a few dollars--to access online content or games.
As for the hottest areas of e-commerce,
in terms of tangible goods sold via the Internet and other
electronic means (such as interactive TV), Simba
Information says the biggest sellers are computer products,
consumer products, books and magazines, and music and entertainment
products.
Clearly, e-commerce is here to
stay. International Data Corporation
has projected that 46 million Americans will buy $16 billion
worth of goods annually by next year, and $54 billion by 2002.
Forrester Research
predicts e-commerce sales of almost $7 billion by 2000. Looking
further ahead, Morgan
Stanley Dean Witter estimates sales of anywhere between
$21 billion to $115 billion annually by 2005.
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