Although, IT spending has been staying flat for last several years, corporate spending in e-business is gaining significant ground and at present surpasses 20 percent of overall IT budget.

This means, more and more businesses are undertaking ecommerce initiatives, and as a result increasing sales, streamlining business processes and dramatically boosting productivity.

Most experts agree that average business, which is slow in adopting e-business applications, risks loosing its competitive edge to their more progressive rivals.

Emarketplaces provide with a great opportunity for small to medium size companies to test online business for a minimal risk. This is due to factor that e-business applications that come along with an emarketplace membership package are prohibitively expensive to develop in-house by most companies, and require large professional workforce to operate. As an example: product content development with required attributes, suitable for e-business, itself might feel like a daunting task for most offline companies.

So, as a company, what should be your first step in starting e-business through emarketplaces?

Naturally, out of hundreds of emarketplaces available today, you have to find one that matches all your requirements. Choosing right kind of emarketplace

In best case scenario, if yours is a large enough company, you should build your private emarketplace with all necessary features specific to your business. The potential of having your own emarketplace is amazing!

- Ecommerce will add value to your existing business transactions - Your present suppliers will be able to post most updated information on their products via e-catalog and their storefront - You can build community from your present buyers and supplier, or invite members on Internet - Real time marketplace will allow you to take quick buying and selling decision - Both buyers and sellers can contact you through Instant Messaging System - Your entire supply chain process can be managed from one place - You can issue real time purchase tenders with either limited access only to your community members or open to public - Sell your stock lots through online auction - Brand you emarketplace and establish your company as a serious online player within your Industry

However, as I mentioned earlier, if you are not a very big company, you will probably be better off with a membership in an established emarketplace.

If you are a manufacturer, wholesaler or a buyer of certain industry specific products or services, your best choice would be a vertical emarketplace that caters specially your industry. For example: if you buy or sell fish, you should look for an emarketplace that deals with this product only. Another thing that you should keep in mind is how geographically limited your business is. If you buy and sell fish within locality of your state or region, if available, get an emarketplace that works in your region.

Totally different story, if you carry large number of products from different industries; for you a horizontal marketplace that cater a range of industries is a better choice. If you are an international trader involved in import or export, you should select a global emarketplace, which has members from countries you deal with. Features that are must

A good emarketplace amasses various features in order to facilitate smooth transactions of business deals. However, there are some key attributes that are absolutely necessary for any emarketplace to become successful; and as a prospective member you should look for these features and characteristics while choosing an emarketplace for yourself.

If you want to get people to stand in January snow for six hours, then lop 50 per cent of your shop’s big ticket items. Even garage sales can pull in hundreds of people, despite fact that most of stuff is second-hand.

Human beings, it seems, have been hot-wired for bargains from year dot. So far anthropologists have yet to find evidence of a tribe who paid 10 per cent above odds. If they ever did exist, they all probably died out in debtors’ prison.

Even when people have more money than they know what to do with it, sense of a bargain usually prevails. Just ask Herb Kelleher, who founded no-frills airline Southwest. You won’t find him paying full price, and he’s not short of a few dollars.

Yet for all of that, running along side of our desire for a bargain is almost pathological dislike among many of us to spend a lot of our time actually looking for a bargain.

Sure, if it lands on our doorstep, we’ll grab it. And if we don’t mind queuing in snow, then that wide-screen TV is yours Sir for just $100. (OK, I jest, make that $50).

But when there’s a game on, or when you just want to hang out, hell, sure a bargain can wait. Except, of course, it rarely does. The early bird usually gets his bargain as well as a cheap breakfast.

So, what if you had someone who did queuing for you? Not only that, but what if they were not tied to vendor in any way and helped with possible pitfalls as well?