Berlecon Research Projects Promising Market for Virtual B2B Marketplaces in Europe and Germany; In 2002 the transaction volume in Germany can reach US$ 15 billion.

Business Editors

BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2000

A new study from Berlecon Research, a leading German research company, analyzes the business opportunities in virtual business-to-business marketplaces in Europe. For the report &uot;Virtual Intermediaries: B2B Marketplaces on the Internet&uot;, Berlecon Research analyzed 545 B2B marketplaces in over 40 industries in Europe, North America and other regions and interviewed several German marketplace operators. The study contains short profiles of all marketplaces analyzed, including 50 marketplaces which will go online later in 2000.

&uot;E-commerce means far more than selling books over the Internet,&uot; said Thorsten Wichmann, principal e-business analyst of Berlecon Research, &uot;B2B is already 5 to 10 times more important than B2C (Business-to-Consumer) ecommerce. More than 50 percent of all identified B2B marketplaces have been launched in 1999. Berlecon Research projects that by 2002 the number of services in Germany will be 10 times the current number, reaching 600-800 marketplaces, with an expected volume of up to US$15 billion. Marketplace operators will earn commissions and subscription fees of more than US$ 500 million, while German B2B e-commerce altogether will exceed US$ 37 billion.&uot;

According to the study, Germany and the rest of the world still lag two years behind the USA. In the US 408 marketplaces were analyzed for the report, while in Germany only 61 marketplaces were identified. Up to now there are no signs for a reduction in the current 2 years lag with the US, neither for Germany nor Europe (92 marketplaces) or Asia (19 marketplaces). Additional comparative analyses of the USA and Germany, in particular, pinpoint several industries which are covered by marketplaces in the USA, but which still offer business opportunities elsewhere.

Based on an extensive web site analysis, statistical research and expert interviews, the German e-business experts also analyzed several success factors for B2B marketplaces with respect to market liquidity, price fixing, market neutrality, anonymous trading, trustee functions, revenue models, and other features ranging from industry content to customer-specific price conditions.

Additional information about the report and the table of contents can be found at http://www.berlecon.de/b2b/english.html. On request, an executive press summary including the URLs of 20 European marketplaces is available.

Berlecon Research, established 1997 in Berlin, is a leading independent research company that analyzes the economic and business impact of information technology. Further information on Berlecon Research's capabilities, services and events can be found at http://www.berlecon.de.