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March 15, 2000

Businesses opt for online sales

By ANDREA L. STAPE
NEWS BUSINESS WRITER, METROWEST DAILY NEWS

Nothing gets the blood pumping like the ability to buy a used 1988 boring mill for $129,000.

At least, Lee Iacocca thinks so.

Last month, the former head of Chrysler Corp. joined the board of directors and became the official spokesman for California-based Online Asset Exchange. The World Wide Web site claims it's the largest marketplace on the Internet for businesses to buy and sell used machinery.

Having trouble figuring out why Iacocca's so revved up about boring mills?

He may be sitting on a gold mine.

The Internet has spawned yet another new phenomenon -- business-to-business e-commerce exchanges. These sites, like the Online Asset Exchange, let businesses compare prices on goods from a number of suppliers and instantly make a purchase over the 'Net.

Electronic business-to-business marketplaces are expected to generate more than $2.7 trillion by 2004, according to Forrester Research of Cambridge. And they are expected to generate 15 times more money than all business-to-consumer sites combined by 2004.

"Business-to-business is attractive because it's made up of repeatable, high-volume transactions, and it's a reliable business model," not like trying to convince a wary consumer to buy a discount book, said Kirsten Cloninger, e-commerce analyst with Newton-based Cahners In-Stat Group. "It's not sexy. Basically, you're just buying widgets online."

Sure, selling pet food online has instant curb appeal to consumers. But, selling those "widgets" can add up to big bucks.

"There are real productivity gains for businesses, and that translates directly to the bottom line," said Steve Kafka, an analyst with Forrester.

By comparing the prices of nuts and bolts online, businesses can significantly cut down on time spent in intensive sales negotiations and paperwork. In addition, online marketplaces increase competition by allowing smaller suppliers to list their goods on the site, giving purchasers a choice to their traditional suppliers.

With Internet exchange technology starting to prove itself, numerous businesses have jumped on the business-to-business bandwagon in recent months.

General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler AG and Ford Motor Co. -- the latter two formerly led by Iacocca -- signed a deal last month to create a huge online marketplace for manufacturers to buy car parts. The companies now spend a combined $247 billion on car parts annually. General Motors claims the new electronic exchange could shave $90 to $100 off the cost of filling each purchase order, but has yet to project overall savings.

Local companies, too, are joining the trend. Boston-based paperexchange.com, backed by Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, announced earlier this week it plans to raise $115 million by going public later this year. The site is an online marketplace for pulp and paper products, and recently signed a strategic alliance with Framingham-based Staples Inc.

Smaller players are eager to jump in as well. This week Weston entrepreneur Richard Cravatts launched a business-to-business online barter marketplace, barteritonline.com.

"Part of our thinking was that there was a lot of opportunity, and it was coming up on us very quickly," Cravatts said. "People are feeling like they need to get involved or they're going to miss it."

As technology analysts and investors continue lauding the trend, business- to-consumer Internet companies are looking to move into the business-to-business space, as well. Auction site eBay Inc. and electronics discounter Buy.com are both looking to add business-to-business functions to their sites.

And local interest has been so piqued by the topic that Boston-based Mass Electronic Commerce Association decided at the last minute to focus next week's monthly panel discussion on business-to-business marketplaces.

"It's definitely a white-hot area," said Tom Hopcroft, president of the association. "There's a huge shift in people's minds from business-to- consumer toward business-to-business."

 
Bringing Video Interactivity to the E-Marketplace
Flash Commerce:  Daily News & Discussion of E-Commerce     and Small Business  Wed Aug 09, 2000
Clipscom, Inc., an Internet video-on-demand company, today announced an alliance with BarterItOnline.com, an e-marketplace where entrepreneurs and businesses barter products, skills, and services using a common, ‘e-dollar’ currency. BarterItOnline.com will offer Clipscom’s streaming video services to its customers.

Through its alliance with Clipscom, BarterItOnline.com is making it simple and affordable for its customers to use streaming video to exchange products and services. Whether it is office furniture or real estate or professional skills in its “Barter Talent” program, BarterItOnline.com’s customers can add powerful video clips to enhance the way potential customers make buying decisions about the products or services from which they have to choose.

“We are trying to take online bartering sites to the next level, and with the ability to move far beyond conventional simple listings of products, BarterItOnline starts to achieve one of the great potential innovations of Internet e-commerce—true interactivity. By supplying video-on-demand, we are giving our buyers confidence in their purchasing decisions and sellers the ability to position what they’re selling in a completely new and advanced way,” said Richard Cravatts, CEO of BarterItOnline. “With Clipscom’s best-of-breed technology, we are one step closer to redefining online bartering sites.”

Rather than using standard digital photos to display products and services being bartered, users can now take any existing video of their product or service and turn it into streaming video for the Internet. Using the proprietary ClipsCorder software, users can easily place and update video clips on BarterItOnline.com, in e-mail messages, and even on their own Web sites.

“With Clipscom, BarterItOnline.com’s customers can add more than just static photos of their products. Video will help those customers sell their products. Clipscom makes adding video easy and affordable for individual users,” said Greg Granello, CEO of Clipscom. “Anyone can display videos inexpensively and without any technology burdens.”

http://flashcommerce.com/article.pl?sid=00/08/09/174733800