A few years ago, I wrote about the emerging trend of niche e-commerce and the need for entrepreneurs in the space to internalize web 3.0 concepts to ensure a differentiated offering. Over the past few days, we have looked at several such niche providers within the online retail space. Another worth mentioning in the same segment is One Kings Lane.
A recent Forrester report, U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2011 to 2016, estimates that online retail shopping in the country will grow 45% from $226 billion for the current year to $327 billion in 2016. Last year, the online retail industry in the U.S. was estimated to be worth $202 billion. Forrester estimates that the growth will come from an increase in the number of online shoppers and the average amount they spend. U.S. online consumers are projected to grow from 167 million this year to 192 million by 2016. The average amount spent by these consumers online is projected to grow from $1,207 this year to $1,738 by 2016.
The research group Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) predicts that global business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales will be worth $1.25 trillion by next year. In 2011, global B2C e-commerce sales were estimated to have grown 20% over the year to $961 billion. Growth will be driven a continuous increase in the number of Internet users, which is predicted to rise from 2.2 billion by the end of last year to 3.5 billion by 2013. The U.S. is the largest e-commerce market worldwide, with growth predicted to continue at 10%-15% annually over the coming years.
A Forrester study estimates the enterprise social networks market to grow to $6.4 billion in 2016 from an estimated $600 million in 2010. McKinsey also estimates that the use of enterprise social network will grow at an annual rate of 42.4% over the period 2011 to 2016.
According to a report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. the global recruitment software market is estimated to be worth $2 billion by 2018. Growth in the market is driven by increasing demand for cloud-based recruitment software and the evolution of solutions that help to increase efficiency to reduce employee turnover.
According to a report from researcher Ovum, enterprises are focusing on social networking within organizations as part of an effective enterprise collaboration strategy. IBM remains the market leader with revenues of more than $105.4 million in 2011. During the current year, Ovum projects the enterprise social networking market to be worth $500 million. The researcher estimates that at present, a mere 10% of organizations are deploying enterprise social networking solutions or services, suggesting a big market potential.
According to a recent performance analysis of IPOs this year, researchers found that the stocks of enterprise software and solution providers performed better than the stocks of several Internet companies. Facebook leads the disappointing wave of Internet IPOs, as its stock crashed soon after listing. But among enterprise IPOs, there are several strong performers. In the data studied, the analyst found that enterprise IPOs listed this year resulted in an average stock improvement of 95% by October 2012. Here is a quick review of automated network control solutions provider, Infoblox (NYSE:BLOX), which recently announced its first quarter results.
China has the world’s largest Internet-using population, with more than 513 million users. Analysts believe that nearly half of this population accesses at least some social networking and media platforms. Use of social media platforms is driven by increased Internet penetration in the country. Researchers estimate that by 2013, nearly 53% of China’s population, close to 718 million people, will have access to the Internet. In 2010, Internet penetration stood at nearly 35% of the population. Besides internet penetration, social media platforms are also gaining ground through increased adoption of online gaming. According to iResearch, China’s online games market is projected to growth from $6.9 billion in 2011 to $13.3 billion in 2016.
According to Gartner’s recently released report on big data market projections, big data will account for $54.6 billion in IT spending in 2016, compared with $27.1 billion in 2011. Over this five-year period, organizations are expected to spend a total of $232 billion on big data–related services and infrastructure. Big data IT services spending will grow at an average of 10.20% annually over this period.
A major headline in this quarter’s coverage of the online travel industry is that Priceline made a notable acquisition. Last week, Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN) announced plans to acquire travel search player Kayak for $1.8 billion. Kayak (Nasdaq:KAYK) had released its long-awaited IPO four months ago.