Reprinted with permission
B2B eNews Internet Business Journal
24 February, 1999
eCommerce Gold on Your Horizon...
Analysts at Ziff-Davis are projecting Internet sales figures for eCommerce
for the fourth-quarter 1999 holiday season. Results of a company survey
of adults indicate 24 million people are likely to buy gifts online this
year, more than three times the 7.8 million who made purchases last year.
"Consumer confidence in the Web as an established and trustworthy buying
channel is growing at an astonishing pace," said ZDNet's Barry Riggs. He
said the Net's position is attributable to the convenience of online shopping
and customers' satisfaction. He said 99 percent of customers reported they
were "extremely satisfied" with their experience last year. ZDNet's survey
indicated the value of online shopping during the October-December holiday
season was $4.1 billion, and is expected to more than triple to $13.7 billion
this season.
http://www.zd.com
..........
Intel Corp.executive Paul Otellini told a developers conference in Palm
Springs, California his vision for the future is "a billion Internet-connected
PCs and millions of servers generating one trillion dollars of e-commerce
revenues" by 2002. "The Internet is as important to Intel's future as silicon
was to our past," he said.
http://www.intel.com
..........
The most important and most under-reported Internet story is business-to-business
eCommerce. Forrester Research estimates online purchases for business will
be a $1.5 trillion market in 2003, dwarfing the size of the business-to-consumer
market that is getting all the headlines.
http://www.forrester.com/
..........
Another big eCommerce story no one is talking about concerns Internet
merchants outside the US who cannot get an eCommerce merchant account for
Visa or Mastercard because they do not have the required, physical US presence.
It prevents many of them from participating in online sales.
"Years ago, Visa and Mastercard could be fooled with paper corporations
in Delaware or Nevada. But not anymore," said Phil Doyle, eCommerce consultant
and President of Brainware Corporate University, the largest Internet distributor
of affordable, business training videos, audios and CDs.
http://BrainwareMedia.com
A low profile, California company is offering an international eCommerce
solution for non-US merchants which stands up to legal scrutiny from Visa
and Mastercard. Some have approached this market only to be quickly shut
down for factoring, an illegal activity in which one merchant processes
another merchant's credit card sales, usually for a fee. Other recent failures
miscalculated the risks, which are considerable.
Vantage provides International Internet Credit Card Merchant Services
for merchants worldwide. Its secure, automated, real time, Internet credit
card capability is designed specifically for non-US companies and for US
merchants who cannot get or do not want their own merchant account for
any reason. VanCart carries a 100% satisfaction, money-back guarantee.
Vantage Services Inc. has grown quickly and quietly through its Internet
affiliate program. VPAY pays referrals and residuals on international merchants'
Visa and Mastercard sales volume. The fast-growing, Internet affiliate
program now has thousands of merchants and affiliates participating worldwide
in the Vantage global retail network.
Vantage has developed unique relationships with ECHOnline, Visa and
Mastercard since 1992 in international, mail order, credit card merchant
services. Vantage Services Inc. is a member of BBBonline and is now 100%
Internet.
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Elizabeth Marshall, editor
B2B eNews Internet Business Journal
covering eCommerce for business readers since 1996