Large, branded firms are likely to dominate the expanding European consumer internet shopping market says a report released yesterday by Fletcher Research Ltd. The research found that the European web will evolve differently to the US as the amount of money required to start up a net company in 15 different regulatory regimes is more than most European venture capitalists are willing to part with.
There is a lack of supportive venture capital markets on a pan-European level, said chief analyst Caroline Sceats. Established offline businesses have a real advantage. Look at [online bookstore] bol.com, they have all the pan-European background of [media giant] Bertlesmann AG behind them.
The report, which covered 17 European countries, found that 121 million Europeans will be shopping online by 2004, up from 34 million last year, spending 17bn euros ($18.3bn) in online shops. At that time, companies will spend 2.8bn euros ($3bn) on online advertising. In 2004, 75% of European net shoppers will come from the top five countries: Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain. Germany and the UK will account for over half of internet business.
