News on 03 October 2000
Current business-to-business internet markets will fail,
says an organisation that runs an online marketplace for the paper industry.
Nearly all such exchanges charge a fee per transaction. But, says PaperX,
users are beginning to worry that this could amount to signing a blank
cheque.
E-procurement systems have been promoted with promises of gains in efficiencies
and reductions in costs. Participants have grown increasingly wary of
transaction charges, however. The more organisations try to take advantage
of e-procurement, PaperX argues, the more it costs them.
The alternative is to move to a flat-rate charge. This should shift the
marketplace operator away from being perceived as a barrier and towards
being a facilitator between buyer and supplier.
Industry analysts, according to specialist Silicon.com, now regard the
flat-fee model as inevitable. But researchers Frost and Sullivan warn
that "even a flat fee is going to look unattractive, unless companies
add some real value to their service".
