What does "eMarket Services" mean?
To help companies find and use electronic trading platforms, marketing organizations from Australia, the Netherlands, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, and Sweden launched a non-profit project several years ago, intended for the dissemination and exchange of knowledge about them. The EU European Commission joined this project in 2004, participating in the organization and financing of further work. Currently, this project has transformed into an official European portal called eMarket Services, which serves as an information center about existing electronic platforms.
As more European Union countries join the contact network, this information will be able to be presented in various languages.
The portal itself is not a trading platform; you cannot buy or sell anything through it. Its task is to provide potential users with information about platforms existing in various economic sectors and in various countries, to facilitate the internationalization of trade.
The basic services provided to companies free of charge are:
• managing information about e-platforms worldwide, broken down by industry and territory
• presenting practical ways for companies to use e-platforms
• periodic reports on electronic transactions in individual economic sectors
• presenting practical ways for companies to use e-platforms
• periodic reports on electronic transactions in individual economic sectors
• reports on various aspects of e-platform usage.
Within this last group of services, recommendations were formulated in August 2005 for companies that want to use services offered by e-platforms for the first time. These recommendations were created based on previous experience in this field, especially negative ones. Taking into account the still initial state of Polish companies’ use of e-platforms (although there are already over 30 Polish ones), it is worth citing at least the most important ones. Failures here are not only very costly but also discourage a company from using new technologies, sometimes for a long time.
What are electronic trading platforms?
When talking about them, one usually starts with broader concepts. Thus, the broadest term in this field is "E-business", a narrower one is "E-commerce", and the narrowest is "E-marketplaces". The definition used by the portal states that "it is a virtual on-line market where buyers, producers, distributors, and sellers find and exchange information, conduct trade, and cooperate with each other. An electronic platform can be purely commercial in nature (if it only offers transaction execution), but it can also be a business tool if it provides opportunities for their integration with other processes within the company".
Electronic platforms are maintained through fees. These vary depending on the nature of the user and the scale of usage. Some of them reward buyers or sellers. The main sources of income for platforms are: fixed membership fees, interest on transaction values, fees for presenting a user’s product catalog, advertising fees (banners and links), and fees for additional services, e.g., logistics, financial, and consulting. Initially, fees in the form of interest on completed transactions were the most important; currently, membership fees prevail.
From the point of view of organizational solutions, platforms can be divided into three groups:
• independent, managed by a company that is neither a seller nor a buyer, open to all interested parties
• sales-oriented consortium, managed by a limited number of companies cooperating to sell favorably to as many recipients as possible
• sales-oriented consortium, managed by a limited number of companies cooperating to sell favorably to as many recipients as possible
• purchasing-oriented consortium, managed by a limited number of large buying companies, available to their suppliers.
Hybrids of these forms are also emerging. E-platforms have a vertical and horizontal character. Vertical means industry or sector-specific, such as chemical, construction, or food. Very often, companies use several vertical platforms simultaneously. Horizontal platforms can cover all market participants in a territorial or functional cross-section. They are particularly often used for the exchange of services, especially business services.
Hybrids of these forms are also emerging. E-platforms have a vertical and horizontal character. Vertical means industry or sector-specific, such as chemical, construction, or food. Very often, companies use several vertical platforms simultaneously. Horizontal platforms can cover all market participants in a territorial or functional cross-section. They are particularly often used for the exchange of services, especially business services.
Choosing an electronic trading platform
Companies deciding to conduct e-business through a platform should realize 3 rules at the very beginning. First, one should carefully study the lists of already functioning platforms maintained by the "eMarket Services" portal. From this list, one should choose those that enjoy popularity and a reputation for good security systems. It is extremely important to have trust in the platform operator on the part of its participants and the effectiveness of communication tools. The aforementioned European portal also maintains lists of certificates, codes, standards, and other useful information, the use of which is free. These general rules, in practice, mean applying a dozen or so intermediate steps that every company should analyze and implement on its own. These principles, which the portal organizers developed as necessary to achieve benefits when using e-platform intermediation, are a logically ordered methodology for their selection by every company: large, medium, and also small.
The article comes from the magazine "Logistyka", No. 1/2006.