9 Oct 2000 AUSTRALIA – E-commerce hypergrowth in the Asia/Pacific will not arrive until 2002, according to US-based Internet think-tank, Forrester Research.
New figures show that while the Asia-Pacific accounted for 8.6 percent of total e-commerce sales in 1999 – behind only the US at 12.8 percent – America entered an e-commerce growth spurt last year, and Europe is not far behind.
According to Forrester, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan will reach e-commerce hypergrowth by 2003-2004. Japan will have to wait because of its deep-seated traditions in offline commerce.
In a separate study, six percent of adult Australians, or 802,000, purchased or ordered goods and services for their own private use over the Internet in the 12 months to May, 2000.
Holidays accounted for 12 percent of Australian adults' online purchases, which were led by books and magazines (36 percent).