UKNM: UK is leader in e-commerce

[Sam Michel]

...or at least that's what the headline in yesterday's London Metro paper

read. I tried to find a link online for this story, but there doesn't seem

to be a news archive at the website. I thought the headline was surprising,

but then I read on...


"British Telecom and Tesco are helping the UK lead the way in global

Internet shopping, according to a survey published yesterday. The London

School of Economics study found that the retail and communication giants

were amongst the multinationals with the best ecommerce services on the

Internet.


The '1999' Worldwide Web 100' survey saw German airline Lufthansa claim top

spot.


Tesco was second followed by BT while British Airways ranked fifth overall.

The survey found European companies, which had been considered slow to

develop e-commerce, were catching up with their US rivals, with six out of

the top ten rankings claimed by European firms."


Other European firms with honourable mentions: Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Bank.


They also claimed, "the e-commerce market has grown from practical

non-existence in 1997 to a �100bn industry today".


OK, after I'd read it a second time, I began to wonder if this information

could actually be true. From my own personal experience, I couldn't quite

believe the companies quoted were really that far ahead of the game,

particularly of the huge US presence in ecommerce. If you're talking about

multinationals, surely the likes of Amazon.com, BOL, CDNow, et al. are

leading the way in ecommerce? Maybe I'm missing something (the scope of the

report), but it seemed quite misleading.


Do other list members share the reports conclusions? Is the UK/Europe

really gaining groung on the established US players in e-commerce?


Toodle Pip


Sam

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