A wholesaler without a facsimile machine is rapidly going the way of the dinosaur, and contractors who do bid work are following close behind
Explosive E-growth
Yet, what is happening in the construction/design sector of the business world lags behind what's going in the economy at-large. The Boston Consulting Group estimates that one-fourth of all U.S. B2B purchasing will be done online by 2003. Transaction value will grow from about $2 billion today to an eye-popping $2.8 trillion by then.
Another e-commerce specialist, Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, pegs it to be at $2.7 trillion by 2004. By then, Forrester expects so-called "eMarketplaces"--Web sites that bring multiple buyers and sellers together-to capture 53% of online B2B transactions.