It has been these two market forces that have fuelled the incredible growth in business to consumer e-commerce. Since the mid 1990s, the Web has grown with a mind numbing rapidity, achieving mass acceptance faster than any other technology in modern history. It has made its way into the homes of one-third of all Americans and is used by 100 million worldwide. In four years, it accomplished something that took radio more than thirty years to accomplish and television more than twenty. Estimates of how big e-commerce is and how fast it will grow vary significantly.
Views differ on what to count, and how to count it.
Globally, there were 414,000 active commercial Web sites at the beginning of 1998, more than double that of a year earlier. It is estimated that there will be 1.6 million by 2002. Small businesses that use the Internet have grown 46 per cent faster than those that do not. The number of online buyers will grow at an average annual rate of 20 per cent, rising from 38.8 million at year-end 1999 to 67.2 million in 2002. Nearly 470,000 United States homes already buy new cars via the Internet.