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Marketing
Affiliate Network
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Press Releases
Online
service will help users conserve cash and assist startups with
leveraging their inventory and human capital to make business
purchases WESTON,
MA – March 13, 2000 – BarterItOnline.com today announced the
launch of its innovative e-marketplace which enables global businesses
and entrepreneurs to create new sales channels, reduce surpluses and
overstocks, and conserve cash while bartering existing unsold
inventory and capacity. As an online model of the traditional
land-based barter exchanges, BarterItOnline is positioning itself as a
key tool for small- and medium-sized businesses to market themselves,
expand, open new sales markets, and acquire the products they need to
thrive in the New Economy. “Barter
has always been used by business as an efficient way of increasing
sales and decreasing cash expenditures,” said Richard L. Cravatts,
CEO and Founder of BarterItOnline.com. “But without the Internet,
traders were generally limited geographically, as was access to
up-to-the-minute information of the availability of trade
opportunities.” Even so, the demand for barter marketplaces is high:
The Wall Street Journal, for instance, recently noted that
‘officially reported barter totals an estimated $16 billion a year,
or 0.2% of the total U.S. economy,’ and those numbers do not even
reflect the appearance of online trading. “Doing
business in the New Economy has itself opened up new opportunities for
strategic bartering,” said Cravatts. “Dot com startups can
effectively use barter to minimize cash outlays for web site
development, marketing and public relations expertise, advertising,
banner and other new media services, as well as legal, financial, and
other personnel costs–all of which are normally paid for with
expensive, borrowed cash in the early years of a business.” “In fact,” Cravatts said, “the very nature of launching an Internet business, with its rapid and steep upfront marketing costs for acquiring visitors, means that barter is an especially necessary tool for dot com startups. BarterItOnline.com is convinced that by enabling startups to trade part of their equity and future earnings for what normally would be current cash outlays, we offer great flexibility to entrepreneurs, as well as a comfort level for the venture capital community who find so much of its early-stage investment being consumed by expensive marketing and advertising costs.” BarterItOnline
facilitates trading between businesses and professionals by creating a
common currency, ‘E-dollars,’ which members use to buy and sell at
the site. The great benefit of a common currency for the
e-marketplace, of course, is that it offers great flexibility to the
buyers and sellers by enabling them to trade with any member of the
BarterItOnline community. Purchases and sales are recorded by the
exchange, which receives a transaction fee from the Buyer at the time
of the purchase. Existing
online barter sites are generally comprised of random listings of
available products, little more than virtual catalogues of goods and
services available on trade. BarterItOnline takes the unique step of
creating a user-friendly business ‘portal,’ with tools and
resources for doing business more effectively–in this instance,
however, all the tools are related to strengthening one’s business
through barter. “In
a time when a whole new industry is being creating online, it seemed
logical that options for bartering be applied to the New Economy,”
said Cravatts. “ For that reason we’ve included some innovative
services on BarterItOnline.com to help businesses ramp up quickly,
competitively, and in a way that conserves the sometimes limited
infusions of venture capital.” The
Barter Talent program, for
example, makes a broad range of professional expertise–web
designers, copywriters, business plan consultants, lawyers,
accountants– available on trade to entrepreneurs launching their new
enterprises or businesses expanding their activities. The
Barter RFP program enables users
to broadcast to a whole universe of sellers a specific project need
they have that they would like to fulfill by bartering. Sellers can
respond anonymously and choose to enter the transaction on a barter
basis just once, as opposed to registering permanently on a barter
site. The
Barter Rewards program enables
companies to trade surplus or excess product or services for non-cash
incentives with which to reward key employees, vendors, and clients. The
Online Learning and Executive Education
program will allow companies to improve the quality of their
workforces with a broad range of professional skills and development
courses. BarterItOnline members can purchase the courses on barter,
either for their personal use or as part of a company-wide benefits
program. The
Media Buyer department of the site
facilitates the buying and selling of advertising space, including
banner ads, portal advertising, and co-branded marketing programs
between web sites. The site also provides users the opportunity to
exchange equity and stock in startups for advertising space and
marketing needs. About
BarterItOnline.com
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