Electronic Commerce on the Web: Digital Drivers for 1999

Friel, Daniel, Business Economics

The Web is changing the way firms do business. From a consumer behavior standpoint, we have seen mounting evidence of consumer readiness for electronic commerce (e-commerce). Rising numbers of consumers and businesses are equipped with PCs and Internet access, poised to bypass paper transactions in favor of electronic information interchange. In the past four years alone, the proportion of households owning PCs equipped with modems rose from 12 percent to 30 percent, and the ratio is projected to rise to 47 percent by the year 2000. Consumers are migrating to electronic space for payments. In 1990, consumers used checks for 86 percent of household payments, compared to 79 percent today. Similarly, 4 percent of payments in 1990 were by electronic debit, compared to 9 percent today.

There is still a great deal of debate over the value of e-commerce. Looking at the same market data, experts have disagreed strongly about its impact. Some see exponential growth in the sale of goods over the Internet continuing. Eventually, they expect e-commerce will become the standard for a substantial portion of commerce. Others argue that, in absolute terms, e-commerce represents a tiny fraction of all commerce. They …

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Publication information: Article title: Electronic Commerce on the Web: Digital Drivers for 1999. Contributors: Friel, Daniel - Author. Journal title: Business Economics. Volume: 34. Issue: 1 Publication date: January 1999. Page number: 67+. © 1999 The National Association of Business Economists. COPYRIGHT 1999 Gale Group.

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