4. There are number of reasons why suppliers don't expedite process either. They are mainly scared of comparison shopping and brand dilution. Complexity of back end office integration and product catalog conversion also creates major impediment in mass adoption of e-marketplaces within supplier community. Suppliers with websites, who previously had disappointing e-commerce experience, are also quite skeptical about benefits that they might achieve from exchanges.

5. Many exchanges' revenue depends on percentage-based transaction fee, imposed upon participants. Some companies consider that these fees will reduce their net profit margin, especially, in a down market. This is another cause, why many are not very keen to participate in e-marketplaces.

All these conditions are maybe right and, probably mass scale adoption of e-marketplaces won't take place another several years. However, don't think that companies should relax. As some industries are more advanced in their adoption of B2B technology, companies should constantly check where they stand. If their competitors are already practicing e-business actively; or many of their suppliers are by now on some sorts of exchanges, this is right time for these companies to consider their online business approach seriously.

The sooner companies understand benefits that they can reap from B2B exchanges better it would be for them. For suppliers e-marketplaces offer benefits like liquidity improvement, cost savings, better inventory management, demand forecasting, dynamic pricing etc. Buyers benefits include: cost reduction, real-time purchase, best available price and many others. Research indicates that companies, thanks to B2B exchanges, can gain remarkable cost reductions: 20 to 40 percent of overhead expenses, 5 to 15 percent of buying cost, Purchase Order processing cost from US$ 75 to just US$ 6-8; and decrease of document errors from 20 percent to less than one percent.

Apart from these benefits, early adoption of B2B marketplaces also has great implications for companies. Early birds get considerable information advantage over their competitors; have enough time to learn from trial and error and participate in setting rules for exchanges as opposed to - forced to abide by rules as it would be case for late-comers.

Whatever approach companies decide to take in their quest of B2B technology, one thing is for sure that e-marketplaces are here to stay. Over time, they will definitely evolve and their business models will also change, however, there is no doubt that a major portion of e-business will transact through e-marketplaces in near future.

New Great Storefront Services Whether you are a small enterprise, which sells goods and services locally, or you are a medium to large company with global reach, Rusbiz is planning to introduce great storefront services with complete corporate site to match your every business need. Features include: Basic Single page storefront

10 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

Negotiations

Internal Messaging Service

Many other features Available now and it's free! Enterprise 10 different templates to build multiple-page storefront

100 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

Negotiations

Purchase Orders

Invoices

Tax Calculation

Shipment tracking

Internal Messaging Service

Merchant Account

Many other features Coming soon! Corporate 10 different templates to build multiple-page storefront

1000 products in E-catalog

Sales through e-marketplace

RFQ and Quotation

Negotiation

Purchase Orders

Invoices

Tax Calculation

Shipment tracking

Internal Messaging Service

Merchant Account

Many other features Coming soon! 4 Make nice pictures of your products Nothing can turn off a prospective buyer than a hazy or blur picture of product that he intends to buy from you. If your competitor’s product with exactly same features has nicer picture, guess who has a better chance to get business? Spend some money and take professional pictures of your products. Make sure that you followed all instructions of Portal before uploading pictures.

5 Post your products for sale on marketplace Product visibility is name of game! Don’t confine yourself just by adding products to E-catalog and your Storefront. Post products for sale on E-marketplace.

There are numbers of great advantages of posting products on E-marketplaces:

Frequent browsers of marketplace can see your products Buyers can compare your products with others on marketplace Buyers can take an immediate buying decision and make an instant Purchase Order.

6 Post trade leads For many not-so-savvy users of B2B sites it's a bit complicated to make buys and sales through marketplaces. They prefer to get trade leads from site and make contacts with buyers or sellers by fax, phone or just emails. Posting trade leads is a great marketing method to tap new territories. Don’t be disappointed if you do not get immediate feedbacks. Repeat trade leads at least once in a month. Since normally a portal constantly acquires new members, in order to expose leads to bigger audience, it is worthwhile to post trade leads frequently.