Last year, very few European retailers were taking orders on the Web, but this year has seen phenomenal growth. One reason is simply that more potential consumers are connected to the Web. On-line access almost doubled in Europe this year. Within five years the Euro e-penetration rate will be more than 50 percent.

Almost a fifth (18 percent) of companies have launched a product that is only available on the Internet. In addition, nearly three quarters of respondents have, in the last three years, launched a new product or an existing one, using e-commerce technologies.

Senior directors with responsibilities for e-commerce in 357 European companies were questioned about their use of e-commerce. The research revealed that the gap between the electronically sophisticated companies and "the rest", identified in last year's report, is now narrowing. In the last 12 mont

2. Business report: Internet is used to support marketing, supplier and customer communications and transactions that increase the commitment of the organization.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Third Agers, Creating Internet, Cable TV, Italy Scandinavia, Limited English, OPPORTUNITIES SERVICES, Web On-line, E-Commerce E-Commerce, Internet Major, Internet Italy, percent respondents, people world-wide, web site, business managers, year's report, services customers, internet transactions, · little faith, sales attributable internet, launched product, businesses reach customers, web surfers, e-business company,
Approximate Word count = 3399
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)