By Polly Raymond, 10 February 2000 00:25
NEWS European companies are losing out to US competitors in the battle to control the market for online business-to-consumer retail, according to a report published by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). It claims that US ecommerce pioneers have wasted no time in making the most of European online opportunities and now control at least 20 per cent of the market. Patrick Forth, vice president of BCG and author of the report, is warning that unless the traditional European companies venturing online and the dot-com sector become more competitive, they will continue to see their share undermined. "There's likely to be a few showdowns between the Amazon.coms and the QXLs of this world. The battle is, by no means over, but European companies have so far been too focused on their national markets while US companies have looked further afield," he said. Forth's advice to European competitors wishing to increase their chances of retaining market share is: "Act quickly - don't waste time and make sure the online strategy is clear." The study called 'The Race for Online Riches - E-Retailing in Europe' also provides a snapshot of the entire market looking at the breakdown of goods and services sold over the Net. The BCG used in-depth interviews with around 550 European retailers to accumulate the data.
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