Business-to-Business E-Commerce Growing Rapidly in Petrochemical Industry Experts Predict Web-Based Purchasing Will Create Efficiencies as Part of A Multi-Channel Distribution System to Chemical Purchasers
September 21, 1999
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire- The U.S. petrochemical industry is a strong case study on the profound changes e-commerce is driving in the business-to-business market. Forrester Research, an industry leader in e-commerce forecasting, predicts that the petrochemical industry will trail only the computing/electronics and motor vehicle industries in total e-commerce revenues, and is projected to grow from $4.3 billion in 1998 to $178.3 billion in 2003. And companies such as e-Chemicals ( www.e-chemicals.com ), the first e-commerce-based company that facilitates the source and rapid procurement, sale and distribution of industrial chemicals through its Web site, are gearing up to meet the rapidly growing demand.
Business-to-consumer e-commerce is merely an introduction to the potential global market for web-based purchasing, according to industry experts. Forrester predicts the consumer market will reach $108 billion annually in 2003. In comparison, business-to-business e-commerce is predicted to grow to $1.3 trillion as companies realize lower pricing and greater efficiencies in the virtual marketplace.
The petrochemical industry is well-suited for e-commerce due to the nature of the purchasing relationship. Customers driven by pricing and availability work with multiple vendors to purchase commodity products, and are constantly fluctuating between retaining a small vendor group for efficiency and enlarging the vendor base to lower their costs through increased competition.
"E-commerce offers the opportunity to combine these competing goals into a seamless solution," says Jim Alampi, president and chief executive officer of e-Chemicals. "We believe the Internet allows procurement organizations to dramatically improve their decision-making by providing access to more sources of supply, and new negotiating tools such as auctions and reverse bidding. Although these benefits help an organization address unit costs, efficiency is a critical issue facing most of today's procurement organizations. Therefore, e-Chemicals has integrated these new decision-making tools with order fulfillment and financial settlement to provide a streamlined solution to the chemical industry's supply chain challenges."
However, the needs and challenges of e-Chemicals' customers do not end there, according to Brad Lich, vice president of marketing for e-Chemicals. " e-Chemicals focuses on the customer's desire to have it all -- online access to more suppliers, the ability to buy via catalog, auction or reverse bidding, and an integrated order fulfillment and financial settlement process," said Lich. "Therefore, we have built this integrated solution by partnering with best-in-class companies like IBM for information technology, Yellow Services for logistics, and SunTrust for financial services."
Leveraging technology to bring improvements to the chemicals industry is not the only criteria for executing a successful online business. Maintaining high levels of service also is an important goal that requires a thorough understanding of the customers who will conduct online purchasing. The e-Chemicals executive team has more than 100 years of experience in distribution, manufacturing and logistics, allowing the company to adapt its technology to the industry.
"Domain expertise will trump technology expertise, not the reverse," Alampi said. "Successful business-to-business e-commerce providers will maintain industry and customer understanding, and continue to cultivate personal customer relationships in order to meet the total needs of their customer base."
e-Chemicals Inc. is the leading e-commerce chemical marketplace. Launched in 1998, www.e-chemicals.com offers an integrated solution that allows buyers to select a product, get a price, order and track shipments online. e-Chemicals also provides customized e-commerce-based procurement solutions for corporate purchasing organizations that provide machine-to-machine connectivity and dramatically streamline the procurement process. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, e-Chemicals is a partner company of Internet Capital Group (Nasdaq: ICGE), a holding company of 36 partner organizations committed to being the world leader in each of its industry segments.
Contact: Brad Lich of e-Chemicals, 734-827-3407, or blich@e-chemicals.com; or Todd Hansen or Lori Erikson of Fleishman-Hillard, 312-751-8878, or hansent@fleishman.com, for e-Chemicals
SOURCE e-Chemicals
/CONTACT: Brad Lich of e-Chemicals, 734-827-3407, or blich@e-chemicals.com; or Todd Hansen or Lori Erikson of Fleishman-Hillard, 312-751-8878, or hansent@fleishman.com, for e-Chemicals/ /Web site: e-chemicals.com /
[Copyright 1999, PR Newswire]
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Now, is this also a discussion forum for those companies that provide B2B commerce soultions? There are a lot of them out ther. Who will get the lions share? I got some in mind that I play with. |
