Business-to-business e-commerce is thriving

As Europeans pile onto the Internet in record numbers and shed their nervousness about buying online, consumer e-commerce is soaring at an impressive 75% per year. B2B e-commerce in Europe is still growing -- and fast. Companies purchased more than $200 billion in goods and services over the Net last year, a fourfold increase from 2000, according to researcher IDC. That's less than boosters were predicting a few years back, but B2B has now wormed its way firmly into Europe Inc., especially in the tech-savvier northern countries. There are even new online exchanges popping up, such as Aquadia, a water-industry site launched last year by Thames Water and Suez. More important, Internet B2B is also delivering on many of its original promises. Companies that have slogged through the tough work of building e-commerce systems -- from Alcatel to BASF to Nestlé -- have lowered their transaction costs and boosted efficiency. Paris-based Alcatel now takes 90% of its orders for corporate networking gear over the Net, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars a year vs. manually entering sales. And Nestlé is halfway through an e-business makeover that it predicts will save $2.2 billion by 2006.