BIG Conference told to watch out for UK overstatement re Internet use 19/5/00 UK respondents have been speculating somewhat wildly about future use of the Internet for b2b purchasing, the BIG Conference was told yesterday. Ray Poynter of IntelliQuest gave a highly popular paper giving details of a survey of PC buying behaviour among businesses. Whereas a comparison of 'plans' in the 1998 survey with reality in the 1999 follow-up showed that respondents in all countries had slightly overestimated the amount they would be buying online, UK respondents had been the least cautious of all. Comparisons showed results from the US, France, Germany and Japan. The results suggest that even in this highly relevant market, where there has been much coverage of the success of direct sellers like Dell, 'solutions' providers still serve more buyers than the direct segment, and actually gained share last year, despite a strong performance by Dell themselves. Meanwhile recommendation is still key to many buying decisions, with overall use of online purchasing rising only slowly. MrWeb will be discussing other issues raised at this week's Conference in the next few days. The Business and Industrial Group is the largest of the MRS' Special Interest Groups and the Conference, held at Chateau Impney in the Midlands, has proved highly popular in recent years among the b2b research community.