Wednesday,
January 10, 2001
Global Picture of Internet Usage
NetValue today released a global look at Internet usage
and behaviour, comparing the US and Europe with Asia.
These figures are based on NetValue's results for November
2000.
-The percentage of households connected to the Internet
in Singapore and Taiwan is fast approaching the penetration
rate in the US
-Koreans are addicted to the web; users spend an average
of 18.1 hours on the web!
-Hong Kong leads the way in Instant Messaging, with more
than 62% of users hooked on IM
-Korea is the all-out winner for audio and video usage,
with over three times as many people engaging in audio
and video usage than Americans
-E-commerce: Asia is lagging behind the West...
Koreans spend far more time on the web (18.1 hours per
user) compared with their Asian counterparts and the rest
of the world.
Internet users in China may well be spending
the least amount of time surfing on the web compared with
other Asian
markets (on average users in China surf for 7 hours /month),
but they spend more time on the web than users in the UK,
France or Denmark.
Considering that Asian consumers are
relative newcomers to the Internet (compared with users
in the US for example),
NetValue findings reveal that their online behaviour
is remarkably sophisticated. Online consumers in Hong
Kong, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan use a larger number
of protocols than Internet users in the US or Europe.
Instant Messaging: The market that talks
Hong Kong leads the way in the use of this protocol,
with more than 62% of users hooked on instant messaging
(IM).
The reach of Instant Messaging in Hong Kong (62.4%)
and Singapore (52.5%) is markedly higher than for the
US
(34.4%). Koreans, with only 5% of the Internet population
using
IM, seem to have the least interest in using this protocol.
Audio and Video: Korea Tunes in to the Future
Korea is the all-out winner for this protocol, with over
three times as many people engaging in audio and video
usage than users in the US. The high uptake of broadband
in Korea (50.3%) compared with other Asian markets could
account for this figure. In other Asian markets, broadband
penetration is less than 10% (11% in the US).
The advanced usage of audio and video in Korea is a good
indicator for those companies moving into broadband content.
Marketers should keep a close eye over developments in
Korea - perhaps here we're witnessing a glimpse of the
future for the Internet.
Email: Asia, You've Got Mail
Users in Singapore and Taiwan are the most active users
of email in Asia, with more than 45 emails either sent
or received per Internet user per month. On average,
Asia falls short of email usage in the US (where users
send and receive an average of 64.6 emails), but exceeds
email activity in France (32.5), the UK (38.9 emails),
or Germany (41.6).
E-commerce: Asia Lagging Behind the West
Asian markets show a consistent pattern when it comes to
visiting e-commerce sites, with 55-66% of Internet users
visiting an e-tail website. However, Asian users are
lagging behind the US, where 73.1% of Internet users
visit an e-commerce site, and Europe. Asian users do
not appear to be as receptive as Western users when it
comes to shopping online.
Canada B2B Trade to Reach C$272 Billion by 2005
Online business trade in Canada will reach C$272 billion
in 2005, representing 18% of all B2B transactions. According
to a new Report from Forrester Research, Inc., C$272
billion of the total C$1.54 trillion in B2B trade conducted
in Canada will be transacted online in 2005. On a provincial
basis, Ontario and Quebec will emerge as online leaders.
"Although only 16% of Canadian companies have a clear
B2B strategy, they will increasingly recognize the benefits
of the Net and come to depend on it to plan, source, distribute,
and sell product over the next five years," said James
Sharp, a Toronto-based analyst for Forrester. "Ontario
and Quebec will take the lead in online business trade,
accounting for C$193 billion of the total C$272 billion
in 2005."
In 2005, more than 92% of Canada's online B2B trade will
occur in four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and
British Columbia. Second only to Michigan in North American
automotive manufacturing, Ontario will see C$69 billion
of motor vehicle trade shift online by 2005. Twenty-nine
percent of Quebec's total online B2B trade will flow through
its computing and electronics supply chains. Alberta's
online petrochemical trade will hit C$23 billion by 2005,
and rapid adoption of online B2B trade by electronics and
automotive firms will account for 45% of British Columbia's
2005 online B2B trade.
Canadian online business trade growth will vary across
industries, dominated by automotive and petrochemicals.
Due to tight links with the US auto industry, Canada's
automotive supply chain will sell C$91 billion online,
with petrochemicals generating C$46 billion. By 2005, 40%
of Canadian computing and electronics trade will go online,
followed by maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supply
chains, which will account for 24% of trade in paper and
office products. Shipping and warehousing firms will help
drive C$13 billion in online trade by 2005, while food
and agriculture face slow adoption with only C$12 billion.
"By 2005, transacting business online will feel as
natural as picking up the phone to call a supplier or hopping
into a cab to visit a customer," said Stuart D. Woodring,
vice president, Research for Emerging Internet Economies
at Forrester. "Astute Canadian executives will recognize
the need for a scalable, nonstop eBusiness infrastructure,
as well as the need to react to the unrelenting change
pervasive in today's dynamic Internet economy."
For the Report "Canada's B2B Future," Forrester
interviewed 50 Canadian executives about B2B eCommerce.
Forrester also analyzed the 13 industrial supply chains
that make up the overall Canadian B2B market, leveraging
two key inputs:
1) industry revenue data from Statistics Canada for the
years 1994 to 1999, and
2) industry-specific factors such as fragmentation, distribution
intensity, and perishability.
News Tidbits (appears every day on the front page)
- Defunct Internet sites are now being paid to destroy
their customer's database list. According to the AP, "In
a case that could affect other fledgling dot-coms, a
defunct online toy store will be paid $50,000 and have
its customer database destroyed rather than being sold
off to pay creditors, federal regulators said Tuesday..." A
Disney subsidiary is paying the money. Toysmart was majority
owned by Disney.
