B2B Integration : A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce

450 B2B Integration — A Practical Guide to Collaborative E-commerce
participating in one? Is it a small company? If so, what kind of services
and infrastructure support should it look for from e-marketplaces?
These are the questions that companies have to raise and find the
answers in-house. Once the goals are established, the hunt for an
e-marketplace(s) can begin.
Liquidity
This is the single most critical factor that can make an e-marketplace a
success or a failure. Without liquidity in an e-marketplace, sellers will
not be able to find buyers and vice versa. There will be fewer transactions
through the exchange, resulting in lower revenues and threatening its
very survival. Thus, an e-marketplace should have a lot of participants
in that vertical industry — big and small.
Pursue your major customers
As a supplier, a company cannot afford to lose its major customers.
Companies should become members of B2B e-marketplaces that their
major customers participate in.
Focus
It is essential to evaluate what the main focus group of any e-marketplace
is. Is it small, medium or large size suppliers and buyers; or a combination
of all three? It is equally essential to know the purpose of the e-marketplace
— whether it is serving a horizontal or vertical community.
Credit worthiness
Since e-marketplaces enable buyers and sellers to transact business
dynamically, they should either directly or through a third party accept
the responsibility of certifying transactions. B2B transactions involve
huge amounts, and credibility is an important deciding factor. Most of
the e-marketplaces outsource the accountability of certifying buyers and
suppliers and their credit worthiness to companies such as Identrus.