Internet sales worth $150 billion worldwide

CREDIT CARD merchant Visa said it expected global sales across the Internet to hit $150 billion this year, a 56 per cent increase from 2003.

Despite worries about phishing, viruses, patching and the like, Visa claimed customers are gaining confidence about the Net as a shopping place.

There's also a strong surge in cross boarder transactions, which Visa claimed represent 16 per cent of its transactions.

It said that an average e-commerce transaction is worth $107, compared to $70 for physical card transactions.

In all, online sales are 7.4 per cent of its transactions, a rise from 5.5 per cent in 2003. It added that 15 million cardholders use its Verified by Visa services shopping on the web. It has 10,000 members and 30,000 merchants using this scheme. µ

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