Under 2% commerce online- the future is bright :: Think about hedging your Internet bets in 2005

Net Sense

Bambi Francisco, CBS.MarketWatch.com writes a very upbeat article about the shift of commerce and advertising to online but warns about getting "caught up in the emotion" and paying over the odds for shares and stocks.

"Online shopping sales are expected to rise closer to 30 percent than an earlier estimate of about 24.5 percent.
The behavioral shift in where we shop and go about finding information, or accessing our entertainment, has caused the underlying secular shift in advertising dollars and commerce to the Web. At this juncture, still three percent of total advertising is online and less than 2 percent of commerce is conducted online"

The article goes on to discuss her interview with Thiel, a major fund manager ($300 million in his hedge fund, Clarium): She writes that "Thiel's dose of reality and equity recommendation to just "sell" is tough to handle, especially when it seems as though Internet stocks are still working" and advises a cautious selling tactic.