Where the Internet used to be a haven for B2C transactions, businesses soon began to realize that the real power of the Internet lies in the B2B market.  That trend has picked up speed in the past year, as the dot-com graveyard is littered with niche companies focused on industry-specific consumer goods.

The real power of the Internet lies in the business-to-business marketplace, which is currently worth almost $50 billion dollars and should double in the coming year.

Many large companies have survived and even thrived in executing business-to- consumer e-commerce, with organizations like Red Envelope, Schwab and Amazon continuing to post strong numbers.

As the Internet continues to shake out and consumers get more and more accustomed to shopping online, there no doubt will be new success stories. Internet advertising and marketing will continue to shape these purchasing patterns. Despite tremendous losses among dot-coms, companies will continue to invest money promoting their online commerce, as an entire generation does not even know a world where you couldn't purchase just about anything, anytime, online.

FUTURE TRENDS: While the past twelve months have been difficult for the Internet economy and e-commerce in general, the future remains bright as business-to-business e-commerce is currently worth $50 billion and is expected to reach well over 1.2 trillion dollars in the coming 18 months.