E-Commerce: The Internet Leisure & Entertainment Market Contents : Market Research Report

E-Commerce: The Internet Leisure & Entertainment Market Contents

Published by: Key Note Publications Ltd

Published: Feb. 1, 2008 - 144 Pages

Executive Summary
1. Introduction: DEFINITION
2. Strategic Overview: MARKET DYNAMICS AND SEGMENTATION; COMPETITIVE STRUCTURE; THE CONSUMER; MARKET FORECASTS
3. Holidays, Travel & Events: INTRODUCTION; KEY WEBSITES; MARKET SIZE; CONSUMER TRENDS
4. Entertainment Products: INTRODUCTION; KEY WEBSITES; MARKET SIZE; CONSUMER TRENDS
5. Leisure Interests: INTRODUCTION; KEY WEBSITES; MARKET SIZE; CONSUMER TRENDS
6. Consumer Dynamics: INTRODUCTION; ONLINE LEISURE ACTIVITIES; LEISURE WEBSITES
7. Company Profiles & Leading Websites: INTRODUCTION; AMAZON INC; APPLE INC; DELL INC; EBAY INC; INTERACTIVE CORPORATION; SABRE HOLDINGS INC; TRAVELPORT AND ORBITZ; VIRGIN MEDIA INC
8. An International Perspective: OVERVIEW
9. PEST Analysis: POLITICAL FACTORS; ECONOMIC FACTORS; SOCIAL FACTORS; TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS
10. The Future: FORECASTS
11. Further Sources: Associations; Publications; General Sources; Government Publications; Other Sources; Bisnode Sources

Abstract

The outstanding current development in Internet use is, without any doubt, the rise of the social networking website. From a standing start, websites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo have captured audiences of millions of children, teenagers and young adults. However, such websites simply act as a forum for the socialising that would once have taken place in playgrounds, student unions or pubs. Within 18 months of its launch in the UK, Facebook was among the top five most-visited websites, rubbing shoulders with established giants such as Google, Microsoft's MSN and Yahoo!

Although networking intensifies the use of the Internet, the problem for e-commerce — defined as trading on the Internet — is that time spent on these social websites can reduce the time spent browsing sites where products and services are on sale (and not just advertised). The main websites responsible for developing an online leisure sector, worth an estimated £10.3bn in 2007, include familiar names such as Amazon (bookselling), eBay (auctioning) and Ticketmaster (event bookings). All of these websites are challenged by the rise of the networking sites.

Aware of the need to keep abreast of this important development in young consumer behaviour, major companies have diversified from their original roles: MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (also owner of Sky TV, 21st Century Fox and UK newspapers); YouTube, another phenomenally popular website (for video sharing) was bought by Google, the leading search engine and Internet portal company; and Microsoft has already acquired a stake in Facebook.

There has also been diversification among the companies that have shaped leisure e-commerce to date, often by helping to create the markets that they dominate. eBay, used by two-thirds of UK Internet users, includes subsidiaries such as PayPal (online payments), Skype (Internet telephoning) and Shopping.com (price comparisons). iTunes pioneered the legal downloading of music, mainly to iPod players (both owned by Apple), but has developed almost a portal role for its parent company's diversification into mobile telephones and television. Amazon has broadened from books, music and videos into household goods and even a baby goods service.

Although names such as eBay and Amazon are the most familiar to consumers, the largest online leisure market is travel, which is a much more fragmented and competitive market. Holidays abroad booked online were worth an estimated £6.3bn in 2007 (accounting for 61.2% of the leisure e-commerce total), with suppliers spread across online travel agents (Expedia, Lastminute and Ebookers), tour operators, hotels and airlines (most notably the two leading budget airlines — easyJet and Ryanair — which rely almost entirely on the Internet for their business). Gambling is another online market that features a mixture of the new and specialised (888, PartyGaming and Blue Square), and the online divisions of established names (Ladbrokes, William Hill and also the National Lottery).

With these markets approaching some sort of maturity over the next 5 years, the rapid growth of the past will be more difficult to achieve, although there is also a long way to go before the online share, as a distribution channel, reaches its peak. According to Key Note's exclusive consumer research at the end of 2007, although a significant number of adults take part in online activities — such as buying entertainment products (41.5%), finding listings (34.4%), researching holidays (32%) and downloading music (26%) — the consumer profiles are still very biased towards youth. More of the older Internet users will join in with leisure e-commerce in the future and today's younger generation will take their online habits with them into middle age.

In particular, it will be interesting to see how the social networking boom translates into real activities, possibly boosting the events bookings sector of online leisure, which is currently a fairly small market. The infrastructure for entertainment events is improving and Key Note believes that in-home entertainment can only go so far before reaching saturation, leaving consumers keen to re-explore the outside world and its networking opportunities.

Get Full Details About This Report >>

US: 800.298.5699

Int'l: +1.240.747.3093

About MarketResearch.com
MarketResearch.com is an online aggregator selling over 250,000 market research reports, company profiles and country profiles from over 650 research firms. Our reports will provide you with the critical business and competitive intelligence you need for strategic planning and marketing research. Coverage includes the US, UK, Europe, Asia and global markets.

E-Commerce: The Internet Leisure & Entertainment Market Contents

Table of Contents

Abstract