The market for e-commerce in Asia, excluding Japan, could expand by 24 times to $51 billion by 2003. This is fromáthe $2 billion recorded last year, according to Sunil Gupta, Asia internet analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in Hong Kong.
Still, only a fraction of companies hoping to compete in the growing market will succeed, he said. Of the many existing Asian internet portals - content-providers such as Sina.com in China - only four or five will survive, he says.
E-commerce companies that do business mainly with consumers such as Korean online shopping mall Hansol CSN, could find it increasingly difficult to make money as competition intensifies. Those companies that...
