The e-commerce phenomenon expected this Christmas season is likely to mark the development of a new stage in the evolution of international online commerce.
A study from market researcher Dataquest released Wednesday predicts that online spending around the world should hit US$12.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 1999, with almost a third of those dollars coming from outside the centre of the Internet development in the world, the US market.
The total figure is around three times higher than the amount spent online last year, Dataquest said.
"The growth of Internet accounts, particularly free online accounts in Europe, has led to a tremendous growth there," said Blaine Mathieu, an analyst at Dataquest.
And while U.S. Net newbies have been somewhat reluctant to try online shopping, non-Americans have been more adventurous, he said. In the Asia-Pacific market, for instance, the growth in e-commerce has allowed consumers to save money on goods that would be much more expensive to get at home.
Europeans want their own
But that home-grown appeal is what's luring consumers in other parts of the world.
"The growth of consumer e-commerce in Europe has been hampered by a U.S.-centric view of e-commerce. Europeans don't function that way. They want stuff in their own language, tailored to their own buying habits," he said.
