Business-to-Business Internet Marketing, Fourth Edition - Lifecycle ...

276 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS INTERNET MARKETING
3. Regulatory Environment. Internet marketers were legitimately
wary of regulatory controls that apply to commerce, such as the
FTC’s 30-day rule, and possible tax implications of doing business
electronically. It was clear, however, that online sellers were
able to achieve considerable e-commerce success despite these
controls. By 1998, Internet commerce was fueled even further by
a federal moratorium on taxes, although taxing online sales continues
to be hotly debated by state and federal governments alike.
Actual business conducted online, as well as numerous predictions
for future e-commerce sales, supports the fact that the global economy
will increasingly depend upon the Internet as a leading commerce channel
for goods and services. E-commerce has spread to worldwide markets
as the Internet’s penetration continued to grow exponentially. Here
are just some of the validating statistics:
A report released by Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) in
March 2001 predicted that b-to-b e-commerce in North America
alone would exceed $2.7 trillion by 2004. Gartner Group Inc.
(www.gartner.com) reported that b-to-b e-commerce reached over
$430 billion by the end of 2000, rising to almost $920 billion in
2001, a 112% increase. In September 2001, Jupiter Media Metrix
(jmm.com) projected b-to-b e-commerce will reach $5.4 trillion
by 2006.
Research firm IDC (www.idc.com) says e-commerce will have a
$5.3 trillion impact on the worldwide economy by 2005. IDC
believes that 80% of business will be conducted online by 2003,
and that $2 million per minute will change hands globally via the
Internet by that same year. IDC’s U.S. Small Business Survey, released
in April 2000, predicted that over 70% of small businesses
(fewer than 100 employees) would access the Internet by 2003,
up from 52% in 1999. IDC says that 2.9 million small businesses,
nearly half of them, will be selling online by 2003, up from 850,000
at the close of 1999.
The lower cost structure of e-commerce is starting to pay off as
well. IDC’s U.S. eRetail Customer Acquisition Costs Forecast for
2000–2005 shows that the average online customer acquisition cost
will level off to just under $120 in 2004 and 2005. (The customer