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World2000 83The E-Marketplace phenomenonStill fledgling only two years ago, the inter-company (B2B) electronic marketplace phenomenon on the net hasundergone extraordinary development since that time. Numbering only several dozen in 1998, there now existbetween 1,000 and 1,500 world-wide. According to Commerce One, 25% of American businesses in 2000were involved in at least one e-marketplace, with a projected 70% for 2002.Forrester Research, which counted 300 marketplaces in Europe in late 2000, notes that 54% of majorEuropean buyers and 21% of major industrial suppliers plan to take part in the creation of an electronicmarketplace between now and 2003. Forrester estimates that 10% to 15% of all B2B purchases in Europe willgo by way of an e-marketplace by 2004. American forecasts are more ambitious still: a projected $1,000 to$3,000 billion in trade in 2004-2005, equivalent to 30% of all business to business trade.What is an e-marketplace?For economists, a marketplace is an either physical or virtual space where suppliers and buyers of a certain typeof product or service come together to conduct transactions.The "purest" form of a marketplace is the stock exchange. Beyond merely putting people and companies intocontact with one another, the e-market operator also performs a number of functions required for efficient trade:guaranteed outcome (delivery, payment) monitoring of the proper, honest conduct of transactions, providinginformation services, financing, etc.An electronic marketplace is therefore a virtual space whose function consists in facilitating contact between agreat many buyers and providers/suppliers of goods and services, and in both facilitating and streamlining thetrading process. This definition encompasses a wide range of situations, from a raw materials exchange toprofessional portals, within which commercial transactions constitute only one source of added value amongothers (1) .(1) Refer to the IDATE study, "E-Business: Professional portals and Marketplaces", 2000 editionBy late 2000, however, while the marketplace creation dynamic remained lively, the fever that had taken holdof the, particularly financial, players, was beginning to subside. Market ratings for the top players have fallenwell below the peaks reached in the first quarter of 2000. The economic and technical path taken by thepioneer entrants proved much longer and more arduous than expected. Close to two thirds of the announcedmarketplaces remain inactive, and the volume of transactions for the remainder is increasing at a lower ratethan what their founders had initially hoped. Analysts are predicting a strong concentration movement for thetwo years to come, leading to the creation of only two to four major players in each sector.Market value of the top three e-market playersThis return to earth does not, however, undermine the reigning general conviction concerning marketplaces'significance, i.e. that they are the heart of the future growth of B2B e-commerce. One of the major difficultiesencountered by specialised operators, in fact, is the market's exceptional dynamic: the inordinate number ofmarketplaces in each sector and the arrival en masse of major players from the "Old Economy" who are© IDATE www.idate.fr