BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE:   Business Week ebiz
DATA MINE Sept. 29, 1999 Web Sites Profit from Experience E-commerce Web sites may be more profitable than they appear -- especially if they're focused on trade between businesses instead of sales to consumers. The key is experience, according to a new study by ActivMedia of 200 business-to-business Web sites. Operators of some 42% of these sites that have been online for three years or more said they're profitable. On average, they posted $30 million in annual sales. For sites in operation a year or less, only 27% were profitable -- not surprising, since on average they took in only $94,000. Overall, 34% of sites reported earning a profit, and 18% more expected to do so within 12 months. Like other market researchers, ActivMedia expects business-to-business commerce to far surpass consumer commerce in coming years. Business-to-business Web-site profitability   All sites 1 year 2 years 3+ years Profitable now 34% 27% 32% 42% Profitable within 12 months 18% 27% 15% 14% DATA: ActivMedia Research LLC _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					MORE NUGGETS The Net Gets Electrified Natural gas and electricity are ripe for Net trading systems Untapped Giving 50 million U.S. Internet users contribute to social causes the old-fashioned way Japanese Women Alter the Face of E-tailing Women in Japan are changing priorities on the Net The Devil is in the Details Companies still need to learn the ropes of logistics Floyd Floods The Net Top weather sites saw a rise in key measurements like audience size and page views The Mother Lode Collected nuggets from Data Mine