• by Masha Geller , September 26, 2001

Jupiter Media Metrix thinks automotive companies might be able to chauffer all of us out of this recession thing we're in. JMM today predicted that online commerce will account for 36% of all U.S. business-to-business spending by 2006.

According to a new Jupiter Research b-to-b commerce report, "B-to-B Spending 2006: Awaiting The Spending Inflection," b- to-b commerce will total $5.4 trillion in 2006, despite its current sluggish growth.

Jupiter analysts have found that the automotive industry has taken advantage of evolving Internet technologies during the economic slowdown and is in position to lead the rebound in b-to-b spending growth.

"The current sluggish growth in online b-to-b goods commerce can be attributed primarily to a slowdown in spending on discretionary software and services by the global 2000 companies," said Jon Gibs, an analyst at JMM.

"Manufacturers should look to the automotive industry to see growing trends in b-to-b commerce. Evolving Internet technologies, the slowdown in new car sales and fierce competition among automakers are forcing manufacturers to connect electronically with their trading partners and end customers to stay competitive."

Interestingly enough, just today Infiniti announced the launch of a large campaign in support of the debut of its new I35 sedan. The campaign includes a sizable Web component designed to reach consumers using interactivity and rich media.

And about a month ago, Toyota made quite a splash by devoting a relatively huge portion of their Camry 2002 launch budget to the Internet. Soon after, Mitsubishi and Nissan followed suit.

I just hope JMM's predictions come true.