Looking beyond the undisputed free fall in print ad pages in the last half of 2008 (continuing into 2009), the relative health in online publishing, events and data products have helped contain revenue declines at well-integrated b2b media companies to 2.2% in 2008, according to the 2009 Media Financial Survey from American Business Media. Presented yesterday to kick off the ABM annual conference on Amelia Island, Fla., the survey revises the previous poll of b2b media by assessing all pieces of the business model, not just print. “This is the first time we looked across all categories,” says Richard Mead, managing director, The Jordan, Edmiston Group, which sponsored the research. Mead says that when looked at more “holistically,” b2b media is healthier than many presume. “Under the circumstances, it shows a very impressive effort.”
The survey included 20 companies of various sizes, and the results showed online revenues in 2008 leading growth with a 15.1% surge in 2008, with trade shows up 4.3%, data products up 7% and conferences up 9.9%. Magazine revenue was the obvious drag on growth, down 10.2% for the year. Custom publishing was relatively flat.
As contributors to the b2b revenue mix, both online activity and trade shows indexed considerably higher than other factors last year, although data and conferences also saw their profitability rise.
Between 2006 and 2008, the share of b2b media company revenue coming from print has declined from 72.6% to 62.4%, while online contributions have grown from 13.1% of total income to 19.6%. Trade show share in these businesses also rose from 6.6% of revenues to 9.7%.
“The marketing mix is evolving,” says Mead. “Print magazines will continue to play a role, but not as key a role as in the past.” In a survey question asked of the participants about their plans to launch any new print products in 2009, 94.4% said “no.” Mead believes that when seen broadly, b2b companies are more resilient and flexible than many analysts seem to think. “The industry has demonstrated the ability to embrace the change and to work with customers in new and enhanced ways.”
Mead admits that the relatively small sample of 20 was likely skewed to larger firms with integrated models, so these findings may not represent a comprehensive view of the industry. “A pure publishing company is hard to start on a print magazine platform,” he says. “You will have to acquire. I can see a fair amount of consolidation in the next few years.”
The ABM survey drilled further into the revenue contributions of each of the five media components covered as well as executive attitudes toward investment in the coming year. For a more detailed report, see next week’s issue of min’s b2b.
Source: http://www.minonline.com/
The excellent online performance of US business-to-business (B2B) publishers is not enough to offset the decline of the sector’s print magazine business, according to American Business Media.
Despite increased revenue from conferences, trade shows and data, as well as the surge in online income, the poor performance of magazine businesses means the B2B sector shrank by 2.2% between 2007 and 2008.
Online operations grew by 15.1% in 2008, giving an average growth rate of 26.8% since 2006. Magazines showed an 8.4% decrease over the year as the print publications bled advertising revenue to online offerings.
Trade shows continue to be one of the largest contributors to B2B media companies’ revenue streams, with growth up 4.3%. Revenue from data services increased by 7% last year and conferences contributed nearly 10% more in 2008 than 2007.
Overall, the industry’s profits shrank by 7.8% in 2008, but remained above 2006 levels due to a 14.6% increase in 2007.
Guardian Media Group CEO Carolyn McCall recently said that the company was considering charging for some of its more popular B2B content such as the Guardian Media section.
“More people are looking seriously at how they can make money charging for content that costs a lot of money to make. I don't think we will be doing much content online in B2B unless we get money for it,” she said.
Source: http://digitalmedia.strategyeye.com/
B2B publisher United Business Media has confirmed it is hoping to use the next phase of the credit crunch to buy up companies at a good price.
The group, which publishes titles including Building, Music Week and The Publican, said last summer that it was "strongly positioned" to make a series of acquisitions.
But it said at the time that it would not rush to buy businesses that might be cheaper six months later - and so far has made what it said was only a "minimal investment".
"As we move beyond the refinancing phase of the credit crunch we expect to identify higher quality acquisition opportunities which provide better potential for creating shareholder value," UBM said today.
"We will continue to manage our position to take advantage of these opportunities as they arise."
In a trading update this afternoon to coincide with its annual general meeting in Dublin, UBM said it was keeping an eye on its portfolio of print magazines, which between them contribute less than 10 per cent to the group's profits.
The company said it had closed titles where there was "no clear path to profitability". Other options include reducing headcount or frequency, or turning free titles into paid-fors.
UBM said its business-to-business events were likely to deliver almost half of the group's profits in 2009.
Although the company said revenue from people paying to attend events looked set to fall by between 25 and 35 per cent this year, it said most of the revenue from conferences came from exhibitors and sponsors, which remained strong.
Source: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/
Marketing Events Assistant - B2B
This is a great opportunity for you to establish yourself within a leading UK business, and genuinely progress your marketing career.
Working closely with the Marketing Manager, you will take responsibility for both hospitality and seminar events within the North West region. You will plan and develop all events from venue selection through to post event reporting and follow up activity. You will also manage the client database and create direct mail campaigns to promote your events.
Educated to degree level or equivalent, you will have experience of promoting and managing events, ideally in a B2B environment, and competent in utilising databases to promote events via DM activity.
Source: http://www.thedrum.co.uk/
As a growing company, we wanted to explore the overseas market. A few years ago, we knew little about B2B websites and attending exhibitions was the only way for us to find potential clients. Things changed when we found Alibaba.com, where professional traders all over the world get together to share various trade experiences and tips.
We discovered that Alibaba.com is an important channel for small and medium sized companies like us to expand to the overseas market. So we made a decision to be an Alibaba.com member in 2004.
Our Company Website on Alibaba.com is always maintained with detailed information. We always upload clear product photos and update our company information as fast as possible. Over time, we get more and more inquiries. We closed many big orders.
Alibaba.com not only helps us increase our revenue, but also offers us lots of knowledge for us to learn and grow. With the help of Alibaba.com forum and professional training courses, we have accumulated many practical trading experiences.
We trust Alibaba.com and will go forward hand in hand with them!
Source: http://news.alibaba.com/
BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Alibaba.com Limited, a leading business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce company in China, said late Wednesday its revenue rose 18.6 percent year on year in the first quarter to 806.6 million yuan (118.3 million U.S. dollars), as more companies resorted to online trading to lower cost at a time of financial crisis.
Statistics showed the company's online market had a total of 40.3 million registered traders both at home and abroad as of March 31, up 36 percent from a year earlier. It increased 6 percent compared with the last quarter in 2008.
The growth in client numbers reflected online market's capability to resist the blow from economic crisis and e-commerce's potential to development, the company said in its quarterly report.
However, Alibaba's net profit dropped 15.7 percent year on year in the first three months to 253.4 million yuan.
The company attributed the decline to an enhanced investment in customer service, employee training and technology innovation for market expansion.
Net profit rose 27.1 percent compared with the previous quarter, Alibaba said.
The online trader pledged to continue investment in the next several quarters in areas such as the development of new Internet trading platform supporting multiple languages, employee recruitment and global marketing.
Alibaba's combined cash and bank deposit exceeded 1 billion U.S. dollars by the end of the first quarter, up 28 percent from a year earlier.
The figure more than doubled from the 400-million U.S. dollar fund reserve it had when coming into the market in 2007 and made Alibaba an Internet company with the biggest cash reserve in the country.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/
The cotton ginners in the country have cancelled contracts signed with the state owned Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), as cotton prices are rising in the domestic markets. Prices of cotton have zoomed past the minimum support price of Rs 3,202 per maund.
Since the beginning of the cotton season in November, cotton prices have been ruling at unusual lows, due to the impact of the recessionary trends which led to a slowdown in the economy. Add to that was the credit squeeze which kept away the mills from the markets.
The government had directed TCP to intervene in the market in a bid to stabilize prices and signed purchase contracts for 590,000 bales of which it took delivery of only 190,000 bales. The rest of the contracts stand cancelled due to the increase in prices.
In a order to get a clear understanding of the situation, Fibre2fashion spoke to Mr. Muhammad Akram Chaudhry, Chairman, Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) who said, “Prices of cotton started reached to the extent of 3,700 per maund in open market in Pakistan”.
“Hence in order to earn more profit, cotton ginners cancelled the contracts with TCP, since TCP is only offering 3,200 per maund to cotton ginners. The main reason for this price rise in the open market is due to cotton production dipping below government set targets”, he said.
He added by saying, “The target set for year 2008-2009 was around 12.1 million bales, whereas actual production, as per announcement on May 3 stands at 11.3 million bales, a shortfall of 800,000 bales, which has led to prices spurting in open markets”.
Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/
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