Looks like dot-com investors weren't the only ones with a bad case of irrational exuberance.
Back in the day, giddy researchers at International Data Corp. predicted that e-commerce sales would top $1 trillion by 2003. For 2004, Forrester Research said U.S. consumers would plunk down $3.2 trillion on the Web. Throw in shoppers from Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America--and the take would be nearly $6.5 trillion. How could you call it unrealistic when it would only mean that every man, woman and child on the planet would have to spend just $1,000?
So it should come as no surprise that there's going to be an earnings shortfall on the e-commerce front. Amazon.com (nasdaq: AMZN) and eBay (nasdaq: EBAY), the two powerhouses of Internet retailing, did just under $3.9 billion in total sales last year.
But that doesn't mean that e-tailing isn't making serious headway. As the stories in this package show, Web retailers are forging ties with mainstream finance, beefing up their infrastructure and providing a much-needed lift to shippers. We could hit our numbers yet.
Source: Forbes Special Report http://www.forbes.com
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