Selecting
right emarketplaceAlthough, 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.
Product catalog based on an industry-standard classification system While it might not look so important from
surface; to have accurate, well-defined and timely-updated product content is extremely crucial for any online business. Since you have to integrate your product catalog to
aggregated electronic catalog of
emarketplace, which could be a very complex task, you should make sure that
classification system that they have is widely used online; and if necessary you can use same product content with other emarketplaces or e-procurement applications.