The good news is that according to a recent article "Europe Hits the E-Mall" in Business Week "with Internet connections and broadband growing across the continent, Europeans are finally starting to get serious about buying online" and that as Geoff Hutton from Microsoft MSN Europe states "despite the boom and bust of the dot-coms, Internet usage has continued to grow the whole time [in Europe]".
The bad news is that "There's just one let-down in this new Internet love affair. Most of the top online brands are American companies that have parlayed easier access to capital and success in their home market into dominance of the European web."
I can pick up a hint of a condescending tone when BW goes on to state "True, in the heady days of the boom, Europeans dreamed big and launched ambitious local ventures such as e-tailer Boo.com. But those outfits are long since defunct." I know, they have a point, it just hurts when they rub it in... Don't even get me started on the Boo thing... Any half-witted businessman could see that it was nonsense... and Fortune put them on the cover?!
But that's not all. "Now the Americans are picking up the pace" and are "setting off a scramble to lock in their lead." MSN's Sutton adds "We think it will be increasingly difficult for local competitors to develop new services." It gets worse. "Investment bankers are combing the continent for acquisition candidates." Now to top it all off we're getting bought by the dozen on the cheap... well not quite on the cheap as "Yahoo! plunked down $577 million in March to buy Kelkoo"...
The only country that appears to have seriously dented one the behemoths, Amazon, is (OMG!) France where "local champions FNAC.com, CDiscount and Alapage" have put up "fierce competiton". At least somebody is putting up a fight!
The conclusions. "American Web sites remain convinced that they enjoy an unbeatable advantage thanks to their global scale." "For European entrepreneurs, that probably signals the demise of any dreams fo building their own Web giants." Never too late to put up a good fight... even if after squandering fortunes we're going to have to work hard to convince investors that we have the mettle to deliver...
Now aren't all these news a great way to start your day fresh and motivated! Time for European entrepreneurs, CEO's and politicians to get their gear into shape and to start demonstrating that we're not 'euro web wimps'.
In the meantime I'll get on with buying my books at Amazon, auctioning my wares on eBay, getting my news from Yahoo! and my email from Hotmail while searching for yet something else on Google...
Americans may be good at launching big websites (Amazon and Ebay, for instance) that gobble up local European competitors but precisely because the Internet allows a business person to create a niche website and serve thousands of people around the world who identify with that niche means that anyone - Asian, European, Latin American - can run a successful online shopping business. Look at Yoox.com. It is an Italian online store for designer goods and many Americans I have met just love it! They wonder why no one in the States came up with such a fantastic idea.
Posted by: EsmeV | July 22, 2004 at 10:28 AM
Esme,
Thank you for your comment.
My position is not that 'big is beautiful' nor that _only_ American companies can build big businesses (they all started small at one point in their lives).
I am the first to agree with you that there are some incredible 'niche' businesses online and offline and I respect and admire many of these.
However, I do have an overall issue with the repeated inability by European online entrepreneurs to turn their niches into successful 'mega ventures' of their own.
If we can build great small ones why could we not build great big ones?
Posted by: andrewc | July 25, 2004 at 09:15 AM
I agree with Andrew C. The big businesses did start small and grew to what they become. If Europeans can build great small ones why could they not build great big ones? I believe it is possible with the correct type of products and someone with great leadership styles to succeed. I wish you the best of luck!
Posted by: Transforming Learning | November 17, 2010 at 07:59 AM