E-COMMERCE
Buy4Now buoyant as e-shopping looks up
29-10-2002
by
On-line retailer Buy4Now has reported a profit for the half year to September 30, reflecting a strong rise in on-line shopping in Ireland and across Europe.
Buy4Now's half-year results show an increase in turnover to EUR6.84 million, up from EUR3.93 for the same six months in 2001. The company made a net profit of EUR14,843, reversing a loss of EUR309,936 for the same period last year.
The company also predicted that it would have 3,000 deliveries a week during the Christmas period, as opposed to the 1,500 weekly deliveries it made in Christmas 2001.
"Buy4Now continues to buck the trend in among Internet businesses," said Ali Murdoch, chief executive of Buy4Now in a statement. "We are profitable, we employ over 40 people directly and are a thriving company with a successful on-line shopping business model."
Buy4Now's success bears out the findings of a new report by research company Gartner G2, which tracks the exponential growth of on-line shopping in Europe and which predicts a huge increase in European on-line shopping in the fourth quarter.
The report, which excludes travel-related purchases and cinema and event ticket sales, says that Europe will become the number one region for worldwide on-line sales in the holiday season.
Worldwide on-line holiday sales in 2002 are projected to total USD38.2 billion, a 48.4 percent increase from the same period last year. For the first time Europeans will spend more money on-line this holiday season than any other region, with revenues reaching USD15.77 billion. North America will be the number two region with USD15.66 billion. This is in contrast to the USD9 billion that Europe spent in the fourth quarter of 2001, as opposed to the USD11.86 billion that the US spent in the same period.
"Gains in Europe are being fueled by companies integrating their mail order and Web presence," said Gill Mander, business analyst for GartnerG2. Mander said Europeans are using multiple channels -- browsing printed catalogues and then ordering on-line -- especially in the clothing and toy merchandise industries.
Gartner attributes the fact that Europe has passed the US to the fact that on-line shopping has a high penetration in the US.
"For a growing number of US consumers, the question is no longer if they will buy holiday gifts on-line, but simply how much will they buy," said David Schehr, research director for GartnerG2.
The US and Europe combined account for more than 80 percent of all shopping on-line, with Japan, Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world lagging in the on-line shopping stakes.
Asia-Pacific will experience modest growth for on-line holiday shopping this year. There will be a rapid increase of new Internet users, primarily in China, followed by India.
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