E-commerce worth €550bn in 2010

Global e-retail trade is expected to hit €550bn this year, with Europeans accounting for more than a third of this spend.

In anticipation of the continued growth of e-commerce, the e-Business Strategy Europe 2010 event will be held for the first time in October, with industry members coming together to discuss strategies for boosting online retail.

The conference comes at a key time, according to its organisers, which released statistics showing just how far the market has come.

Roughly 30 per cent of the world's population is online, and around 85 per cent buy goods and services via the internet. The organisers estimate that, while making up a quarter of the net population, Europeans account for 35 per cent of all online spending at roughly €200bn.

The conference is being held in Lille on 20 October, the same month that the number of internet users is supposed to hit two billion, just 16 years after the birth of the World Wide Web. It is being led by UK e-commerce industry group the IRMG, and was set up to be a "brains trust" for discussion and thought on policy and strategy.

"Digital commerce demands our urgent attention. However, in this rapidly changing space, with its multi-layered interdependencies, nobody can have a clear view of where digital innovation may be taking us, or when," said IRMG chief executive James Roper.

Participants will be given a range of topics to chew over, including whether towns will need to be planned differently because of e-commerce, whether internet access should be considered a human right, and whether territorial pricing of products can continue in light of the global transparency of e-commerce.