Not long after we learned of the UK’s £100b digital economy, we started wondering how they measured that stuff. As if on cue, the UK’s ecommerce trade association, the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), released a new international standard to help measure the ecommerce sector.
IMRG, working with the European Commission, devised the Global B2C Ecommerce Measurement Standard (Gems) to get a better sense of the scale of the expanding ecommerce sector. IMRG believes that a fundamental reworking of the existing trade infrastructure will be required to accommodate the online sector’s growing influence. Now they want hard data to add legitimacy to this pitch.
The new standard is effectively the world’s shortest dictionary, containing definitions of just 10 terms. Highlights include: A week: ‘is assumed to run from Sunday to Saturday, although this may vary.’ Riveting.
Sadly, gambling (and gaming) will not be counted in any new, more accurate tally, as it’s one of ten sectors on an exclusion list, along with porn. We know what you’re thinking, but it’s not actually a sin bin, even if current societal whipping boys ‘financial services’ are also on board. The ‘nope’ list includes auctions, telecom services, utilities, houses and cars — basically a list in which either no physical product exists, or the physical product is too big for you to lift off the ground. Given that logic, you can’t take offense. Still, what with all the excitement surrounding this new revved up online economy, getting left behind does feel a bit like getting turned down for a dance in front of your whole middle school student body.
