Electronic marketplaces

An electronic marketplace is an Internet trading platform where different sellers present their offers and different buyers look for goods and services. There are various types of marketplaces. Some are geared towards buying, others are geared towards selling. Electronic marketplaces can either focus on cross-industry business or they can be geared towards a specific industry, e.g. semi-conductors or catering products. Industry-specific marketplaces are called vertical markets while those that operate on a cross-industry basis are called horizontal markets. The following links will help you make the right choice for your company.

‹Kompass – professional global B2B network›
Kompass is a global franchising company present in 70 countries. The powerful search function allows you to compare offers from 70 countries. The website provides its product and services categories in 26 languages. In Switzerland, 40,000 companies have subscribed to the service; globally, there are 2.4 million. Partners in Switzerland include Swissmem, Swiss Export, Swiss Marketing (SMC), Swiss Marketing Academy, SFIB (School of International Business) and the SADV (Schweizer Adressbuch- und Datenbankverleger-Verband).

‹eMarket Services – A directory of B2B marketplaces ›
eMarket Services is not actually a marketplace, but rather a comprehensive directory of over a thousand marketplaces worldwide, which you can search for by industry or country. Supported by trade organisations from a number of countries, the aim of the project is to make it easier for SMEs to access electronic marketplaces. In addition to the marketplace directory, the service also offers a collection of case studies and a detailed introductory guide to electronic marketplaces.

‹Volkswagen supplier platform›
Since 2003, Volkswagen has used the Internet for practically all of its procurement activities of over EUR 75 billion. The “VW Group Supply.com” supplier platform enables Volkswagen to get the most from its relationships with its suppliers. Amongst other things, registered users have access to applications that offer the following functions: online enquiries, online negotiation, online content of standards, eCAP (a form of electronic capacity management system) and a supplier database. The platform is designed to cover a number of brand names and regions, and includes business processes from the areas of procurement, logistics, quality and technical development. The platform has two main user groups. Externally, there are the current and potential suppliers. Internally, there are all the employees who deal with suppliers on a day-to-day basis.

‹Rules and criteria for breaking in to electronic marketplaces› (in German)
It is impossible for a company to be active in all the marketplaces within their industry at the same time. In practice, therefore, many companies have considerable difficulties deciding which marketplaces they should be trading in. At Germany’s Research Institute for Operations Management (Forschungsinstitut für Rationalisierung www.fir.de), an aid to decision-making has been developed to enable companies to identify suitable marketplaces.

‹Collection of articles on the subject of “electronic marketplaces”› (in German)
“Competence Site” offers a host of articles and studies on the subject of electronic marketplaces. The focus is mainly on articles relating to Germany or specific industries. However, the site also provides more general information on strategies and business models. “Competence Site” is provided by NetSkill, an off-shoot of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The website is intended as an expert platform for management competence and uses subject-specific competence centres to cover business, legal and IT problems.