B2C Ecommerce Growth Maintained

In its new report, North America E-Commerce: B2C & B2B, the research firm claims that spending on B2C products and services will increase by more than a quarter in 2003. More than 58% of internet users aged 14 and over are predicted to make online purchases this year with the average total coming in at $717.

“Some trends such as experience online, the narrowing digital divide and the shakeout among online retailers have been major factors influencing ecommerce since 2001,” said eMarketer analyst Ross Rubin. “Yet a fourth factor now comes into play: the increasing availability and adoption of broadband,” he contended.

By the end of 2002, more than 17 million US residents were accessing the web via a high-speed cable or DSL internet connection (see US Broadband Sees Record Growth In 2002). This number is set to climb dramatically with new research showing that up to half of dial-up subscribers are interested in upgrading to broadband (see US Broadband Boom On The Way, Says Report).

Broadband subscribers tend to be the most intensive users of the internet and the faster connection speed encourages activities such as online shopping which require the user to visit a number of pages on a single website.

eMarketer forecasts that US B2C commerce spending will rise from $90.13 billion this year to $133.3 billion in 2005, by which time there will be 121 million online shoppers.

US B2C Ecommerce Forecasts
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Online Shoppers (m)	66.9	80.4	93.3	101.7	108.4	121.1
B2C Ecommerce Revenues ($ bn)	41.55	51.58	70.34	90.13	109.70	133.30
Source: eMarketer, April 2003