The e-commerce and Internet services industry includes companies that sell goods or services online, including information products and informatio'n retrieval services. The industry also covers networking and other support services for companies that operate primarily on the Internet.
Industry Overview
E-Commerce ranges from simple websites supporting brick-and-mortar stores to giant online store operations such as Amazon.com and information service operations such as Google. There is no question that the high-end of the sector is big business; Google is expected to report 2005 revenues of about $4.1 billion, eBay around $4.5 billion, and both Yahoo! and Amazon are both expected to record revenues of over $3 billion.
As the number of online shoppers increases, the demand for online advertising also rises. The four most widely visited Web properties, Google, Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN, will certainly benefit from increased interest in online advertising. Google commands roughly 15 percent of the total US online advertising market, with Yahoo! holding about 13 percent and MSN 10 percent.
Consumers are also becoming more comfortable with Internet security and online operations. More than half of all US households now pay at least one bill online. Online banking and stock trading are also gaining in popularity. This is good news for companies that support such operations, such as electronic payment services firm CheckFree and online stock exchanges E*Trade and Ameritrade.
