Business-to-business e-commerce is thriving
Published:
3 May 2003 y., Saturday
As Europeans pile onto the Internet in record numbers and shed their nervousness about buying online, consumer e-commerce is soaring at an impressive 75% per year.
B2B e-commerce in Europe is still growing -- and fast. Companies purchased more than $200 billion in goods and services over the Net last year, a fourfold increase from 2000, according to researcher IDC. That's less than boosters were predicting a few years back, but B2B has now wormed its way firmly into Europe Inc., especially in the tech-savvier northern countries. There are even new online exchanges popping up, such as Aquadia, a water-industry site launched last year by Thames Water and Suez.
More important, Internet B2B is also delivering on many of its original promises. Companies that have slogged through the tough work of building e-commerce systems -- from Alcatel to BASF to Nestlé -- have lowered their transaction costs and boosted efficiency. Paris-based Alcatel now takes 90% of its orders for corporate networking gear over the Net, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars a year vs. manually entering sales. And Nestlé is halfway through an e-business makeover that it predicts will save $2.2 billion by 2006.
Šaltinis:
businessweek.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Software company announced new structure_ of it_s business.
more »
Microsoft reportedly has called off a plan to mass produce its small-size Surface Mini tablet.
more »
Microsoft has built a new tool to help users of Windows 8.1 devices determine the causes of battery drain during the system's sleep mode.
more »
A new rumor has just started spreading about Microsoft's entrant into the smartwatch business.
more »
Wincor Nixdorf is promoting the new version of its PC/E Direct Marketing software and providing banks with an effective and modern marketing tool to individually address customers on ATMs, self-service terminals or digital signage screens.
more »
Hewlett Packard has launched its answer to Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 - its brand-new HP Pro x2 612. This device is the company's first commercial detachable PC.
more »
Unisys Stealth has been named the recipient of the TechAmerica Foundation American Technology Award (ATA) in cybersecurity. The ATAs represent outstanding achievement, with winning products exemplifying the “Best of” the United States technology sector.
more »
Microsoft showed off a test version of a real-time, spoken-word translation service for Skype calls, the first time the world’s largest software company has demonstrated the breakthrough technology publicly in the United States.
more »
Cortana, Microsoft's answer to Apple Siri and Google Now, was announced at the company's Build conference in April, and is set to arrive on Windows Phone 8.1 devices later this year.
more »
Google Inc plans to offer Wi-Fi network hardware and software at a discount to small and medium-sized businesses.
more »
Dell is making a line of PCs using plastics obtained by expanding its recycling program.
more »