In early 1999, the OECD launched an internationally comparable study of the diffusion and economic and competitive impacts of business-to-business electronic commerce over the Internet. A first set of case studies was conducted in France between February 1999 and September 1999. Three sectors were chosen for their different characteristics: book publishing, mass retail distribution (clothing, textiles, food and drink, furnishings, etc.) and pharmaceuticals distribution. The differences across sectors are substantial and relate to the nature of the product (whether it can be digitised, is costly or is perishable), the nature of transactions between suppliers and purchasers, the market structure and regulation. This report gives a first set of results concerning sectoral differences in the spread of business-to-business electronic commerce and related organisational and economic effects.