Marketplace Media And Tangible Get Married

Marketplace Media And Tangible Get Married

Marketplace Media has moved in with Tangible Media in Grey Lynn.

“It’s a great marriage of talent and resources” said Marketplace Media Director, Simon Little.

“Our future lies with like-minded people focused on producing great magazines and we believe our titles, Wares, NZ Hardware Journal, and Outdoor Power Equipment, with the online offering we have planned, will continue to provide a full news and marketing solution for the consumer electronics, home improvement and building supply industries.”

Tangible Media General Manager, John Baker says; “We are delighted to be collaborating with the Marketplace team. B2b, like specialist consumer publishing is all about the intense relationship readers have with focussed editorial product, delivered in print, on-line and via events. We believe this is the future of publishing and what makes our advertising proposition so compelling”

Marketplace Media was formed last month by award-winning brother and sister duo, Simon and Andrea Little acquiring the titles from failed publishing company 3media Group.

Tangible Media, the publishing arm of The Image Centre Group, publishes Classic Driver, Driver, Dish, NZ Fishing World, NZ Rugby World, NZ Today, Real Groove, The Groove Guide, Habitat and NZ Retail.

The Image Centre Group also includes; Image Print, Ice Interactive and the recently acquired Boston Digital.

Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz

B2B marketplace tool targeted at SMEs

BANGALORE, INDIA: MyTradeBook.com has announced the launch of a free Web-based B2B marketplace tool that allows businesses to build networks, engage in interest groups, buy, sell and advertise products and services, recruit human resources and partner with organizations related to their business ecosystem.

The tool will be initially launched in India and United Kingdom followed by other English speaking countries.

Given the current economic scenario, this tool which is targeted at the small and medium enterprises (SME) segment offers Indian businesses a free online platform that helps create new markets and reach out to potential global customers.

Announcing the launch, Richard Tunstall, managing director, MyTradeBook.com said: "There are many SMBs that have products and services with global appeal, but are constrained with limited marketing budgets, which becomes even more pronounced in the current economic scenario. MyTradeBook.com is designed to cut through the clutter of the existing B2B marketplaces by offering users with effective ways to reach out, collaborate and showcase their products and services in a much more targeted fashion. What's more important is that they can do it for free."

Amalgamating the concepts of business networking and B2B marketplace, this unique tool allows users to join as well as create interest groups. This facilitates collaboration and discussion between users on their areas of interest opening up avenues for generation of new ideas and business leads.

Users can also advertise their products and services for free in the Trade Pages of the tool and these posted advertisements can be linked to various interest groups and can be viewed by other members offering users with an opportunity to target their ads at the most relevant people.

Apart from offering users with the ability to search Trade Page ads, crucially MyTradeBook.com, also allows users to share Trade Page posts with other social networking sites, creating viral marketing opportunities. Presents unique blend of B2B marketplace and social networking concepts.

Source: http://www.ciol.com

B2b Market Place for Wooden Handicrafts Launch of The Largest Online Hub for Wooden Handicrafts

Wooden Handicrafts, the B2b marketplace dedicated specifically to the handicrafts industry contains comprehensive information about the various ranges of wooden handicrafts available throughout the world. Browse through the website (http://www.wooden-handicrafts.com/) to get complete information on the suppliers, manufacturers and dealers of wooden manufacturers across the globe.

This is the one stop platform for all those who are looking for detailed knowledge of the various handicrafts associations along with wood crafts trade leads and wood craft publications. Some of the core areas of competencies include antique wood crafts, garden decoratives, wooden corporate gifts, wooden furniture, wooden kitchen accessories, wooden shutters and wooden toys and games.

Also find general information on the handicrafts with special emphasis on the industrial resources and industry overview with an insight on the various factors affecting the market growth of wooden handicrafts. The manufacturing regions, export import policies and production process has also been discussed at length. Here one can also find vivid collection of wood carvings, wood crafts and wood finishes.

The provision for receiving free quotes for wooden handicrafts also makes this B2B marketplace very palpable. You not only are capable to post buying or sourcing requirements for free but can also get multiple quotes directly from authentic wooden handicrafts manufacturers and suppliers. One can also send free request regarding the buying requirement along with other details to get responses from genuine globals sellers or suppliers, for free. Helpful tips related to the wooden handicrafts industry is also disseminated on a regular basis.

Exclusive range of wooden candle holders, wooden letters, wooden name plates, wooden bowls, wooden scoops and wooden planters along with their images, highlights and possible usage, have also been displayed on the website.

Source: http://www.enewswire.co.uk

Capturing the Value of Content Marketing

Click on one of your shortened URLs in Twitter, and your analytics may show a referral from Twitter. But if you click on that same shortened URL in a Twitter client like TweetDeck, the click-through will probably show up as a direct visit, because TweetDeck doesn’t pass along the referrer string in the URL. How many other sources of your traffic are like this? Probably more than you think.

Content marketing is very effective for B2B marketers. Think about all of the case studies, white papers, brochures, technical papers, newsletters you have. Likely, many of these assets are in pdf form. They took a lot of time and money to create. When it comes to analytics, you may know how many people download these assets, but you probably have no idea whether these assets help drive people back into your site.

Smart marketers put links into their pdfs. They know many people never print a pdf; they view it electronically. Ideally, links in the pdf drive readers back into your site for deeper engagement. The primary value of these marketing assets isn’t measured by how many people download them. It’s much better measured by whether readers of those assets take further action. Unfortunately, if you’re like most marketers, a click-through from one of these assets shows up as a direct visit. There’s no way to attribute it to your content marketing.

Suppose you’re searching your analytics for prospects. Suddenly, you find five direct visits from a Fortune 500 company in a span of three days. Each visit is fairly long and deep, but it’s also broad; and you really can’t determine their particular interest or what issue prompted that interest. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that these visits came from a particular white paper? That would give you tremendous insight into the visitor’s interest and motivation.

To begin capturing that information, you need to tag the URLs in your links. If you’re using Google Analytics, you can use Google’s URL Builder to append information to the URL. Then use these tagged URLs in the links you put into pdfs and other similar media (e.g. PowerPoint assets you make available). In doing so, you’ll not only be able to track click-through from certain channels of content marketing (e.g., white papers), but you’ll also be able to drill down within that channel to see how much traffic each white papers is driving. If you’re using another analytics platform, find out how to use its tagging capabilities.

If you use shortened URLs in these content marketing assets, make sure you tag your URL before shortening it. Incidentally, you can also do this for your tweets that contain short URLs linking back to your site. That way, in your analytics, you’ll be to identify click-through from people using tools like TweetDeck and distinguish it from direct visits.

Source: http://searchengineland.com/

Online trader Alibaba Q1 revenue up 19%, net profit down

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/

Cotton ginners reneging on contracts with TCP

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/

GXS Managed Services Customer, CNH Global, Named to Managing Automation's Progressive Manufacturers 100 Listing

Company Honored For its Global Deployment of GXS Managed Services

GAITHERSBURG, Md., April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, today announced that its customer, CNH (Case New Holland), a world leader in the agricultural and construction equipment businesses, has been named to Managing Automation's Progressive Manufacturers 100. CNH was honored by the publication for its global B2B e-commerce deployment via GXS Managed Services which began in 2007. GXS Managed Services is the company's comprehensive B2B outsourcing portfolio that provides companies with the people, processes and technologies necessary to maintain complex and geographically-dispersed B2B e-commerce programs.

CNH is a majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat S.p.A. and has more than 28,000 employees around the world and more than $16 billion in annual revenue. The company has a very complex B2B network which includes 10,000 parts suppliers in 40 countries and more than 300 transportation carriers. Its suppliers supply anywhere from one to 25 CNH plants and vary widely in their technology use and maturity. CNH has utilized GXS' EDI services for suppliers and carriers for more than 14 years in North America and more recently in Europe and Latin America. However, CNH's recent purchase of a new Transportation Management System increased its electronic transaction volume ten-fold, making it cost-prohibitive to manage its B2B network in-house. CNH needed an outsourced solution to manage the increased volume in transactions and standards translation as well as a vendor with expertise to handle transportation management transactions such as tenders, tender responses and shipment status reports. CNH also wanted to improve shipment visibility and the parts receiving process on their docks, requiring all CNH suppliers to provide Advance Shipment Notification (ASN) documents.

"Receiving this award from Managing Automation is an honor as well as a reflection of the work and dedication put into this project from both CNH and GXS," said Sundar Nagarajan, manager of e-commerce at CNH. "With GXS Managed Services, our global B2B network is now managed smoothly and efficiently, with minimal resources required to support new projects or trading partners. Furthermore, GXS was able to support the integration with our new TMS system, ensuring our B2B process is automated end-to-end."

As part of its deployment of GXS Managed Services, CNH has substantially increased its B2B automation on a global scale. The company has added nearly all its trading partners in Europe and Latin America to which they were having difficulty connecting prior to migrating them to GXS. In fact, 95 percent of CNH's suppliers have migrated from the software solution previously utilized by CNH to GXS. Specialized portals were created for the unique needs of the transportation provider and direct materials supplier communities. The portals are available in eight different languages, reflecting the diversity of CNH's supplier base.

"CNH's approach to supply chain integration is a case study in best practices for multi-national manufacturing companies," said Ryan Kraudel, director of GXS Managed Services product management. "The desire to build demand-driven supply networks is driving many large organizations to seek better integration between their ERP systems and their trading partner networks and transactions. In addition, leading companies such as CNH are automating supply chain transactions not just in Europe and North America, but in emerging markets such as Asia and Latin America as well. CNH's recognition in Managing Automation's Progressive Manufacturers 100 is a testament to the value of this initiative."

GXS Managed Services is a comprehensive B2B outsourcing portfolio that provides companies with the people, processes and technologies necessary to maintain complex B2B e-commerce programs. With B2B outsourcing from GXS, companies can build and grow B2B networks without making additional investments in hardware, software or human resources. GXS provides customers with world-class B2B program management including trading community management, global supply chain visibility, transaction management, data translation, systems administration and supplier performance reporting. GXS Managed Services customers represent a variety of industries including consumer products, financial services, high tech, manufacturing and retail. More than 200 companies currently use GXS Managed Services around the world, including BB&T, Henkel, Miller Brewing Company, Shinhan Bank, Sun Microsystems and WHSmith.

About CNH

CNH is a world leader in the agricultural and construction equipment businesses. Supported by more than 11,000 dealers in 160 countries, CNH brings together the knowledge and heritage of its Case and New Holland brand families with the strength and resources of its worldwide commercial, industrial, product support and finance organizations. CNH Global N.V., whose stock is listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CNH), is a majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat S.p.A. (FIA.MI). More information about CNH and its Case and New Holland products can be found online at www.cnh.com.

About GXS

GXS is a leading global provider of B2B e-commerce solutions that simplify and enhance business process integration and collaboration among trading partners. Organizations worldwide, including more than 70 percent of the Fortune 500, leverage the on-demand services on GXS Trading Grid(R) to extend supply chain networks, optimize product launches, automate warehouse receiving, manage electronic payments and gain supply chain visibility. GXS Managed Services, GXS' B2B outsourcing solution, empowers customers with the expertise, technical infrastructure and program support to conduct B2B e-commerce with trading partners globally.

Based in Gaithersburg, Md., GXS has an extensive global network and has local offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. GXS can be found on the Web at www.gxs.com, http://blogs.gxs.com/ and http://twitter.com/gxs.

All products and services mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies.

Source: http://news.prnewswire.com/

B2B marketers stick to strategies despite recession

The majority (61%) of B2B marketers have not changed marketing strategy despite the currrent recession, according to new research.

The research conducted by marketing automation leader Eloqua at the recent Technology for Marketing & Advertising conference in London highlights key trends for the B2B marketing industry and challenges preventing its growth.

Budget cuts (40 percent), a lack of industry understanding (19 percent) and lack of integration between teams (17 percent) are highlighted as key challenges that must be overcome if the industry is to succeed in the recession.

Interestingly, the majority of respondents surveyed believe that nurturing and converting sales inquiries into qualified leads is more important than generating new leads in B2B marketing campaigns.

Notably, half of respondents currently have a marketing automation system in place, but only 6 percent of respondents named raw lead generation as the most important component of their sales and marketing campaign.

The survey also discovered that a third of the marketers didn’t know how many of their marketing leads turn into buyers, while more than 75 percent said more effective measurement would make their business more competitive.

The results support the strategies outlined in Eloqua’s new whitepaper entitled “The Springboard Effect,” which details the importance of increasing conversion rates through the marketing and sales pipeline and how businesses can leverage marketing automation techniques to enhance ROI from sales and marketing campaigns and emerge stronger after a recession.

“During economic downturns, far too many organisations spend time agonizing over where to cut back in order to recession-proof their business. Historically, the budget axe would often strike hardest in marketing because of its perceived function as a pure cost center,” said Brian Kardon, chief marketing office, Eloqua.

“The results from our survey reinforce what many of today’s business leaders understand – never before has it been more important for marketing organizations to invest in solutions that enable them to better understand and track their prospects’ ‘Digital Body Language.’ Programmes and processes that manage, nurture, automate and deliver a greater number of qualified leads to sales are invaluable in protecting and growing the bottom line,” Kardon added.

Eloqua’s survey also found that 41 percent of marketing executives reported that their sales and marketing organisations are not currently aligned.

The research also highlights that email marketing is set to be the biggest growth channel for B2B marketers in 2009, followed by direct mail and real time lead generation.

For more examples of how businesses can strategically optimize their marketing and sales activities to create a competitive advantage, download a free copy of “The Springboard Effect” whitepaper at http://www.eloqua.com/resources/whitepapers/springboard_effect_recession_marketing.html.

Source: http://www.netimperative.com/

Chinese B2B Site Tootoo.com Closes

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com has one less competitor to worry about as Ninetowns Internet Technology Group Company Limited is terminating its own B2B online sourcing website Tootoo.com.

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing our B2B business and have determined that the time and investment required for further support is not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders given the uncertain global economic environment," stated Shuang Wang, Ninetowns' CEO.

Ninetowns says the discontinuation of the B2B business is not expected to have a material financial impact on Ninetowns' other business solutions. As a result of this decision, Ninetowns expects to record a one-time non- cash impairment charge of approximately CNY115 million against its long-lived assets and goodwill. Ninetowns is now in the process of finalizing the impairment charge with its advisors, including an independent third-party valuation specialist. Ninetowns does not expect the non-cash impairment charge to have an adverse impact on its current cash position, current cash flows from operating activities, or future cash expenditures.

If there is no expected impact on the company's current cash flows, this begs the question of whether Tootoo.com ever created any revenue for Ninetowns. Obviously whatever meager revenue Tootoo.com managed to scrape together was not enough to keep it afloat.

Tootoo.com was originally developed as a B2B search and service provider for suppliers and buyers engaged in international trade and was not fully commercialized as of the end of 2008. Ninetowns expects to begin winding down all services and support for Tootoo.com within approximately 60 days and plans to eventually discontinue Tootoo.com's B2B service offering. Ninetowns intends to re-assign existing Tootoo.com personnel consisting of approximately 50 employees to other functions within Ninetowns.

Source: http://www.supplychain.cn/

With the help of Alibaba, we are growing rapidly

TNN Development Ltd, established in 1998, in Dalian, China, is a foreign trade group that exports chemical, pharmaceutical raw materials and food additive. In 2007,in order to answer the country’s call of generalizing the export of high value-added products, we add the export of machinery and equipment such as loaders, beverage production lines. And the annual sales are 20 million U.S. dollars. The company's advantages lie in the strict quality control of export products and the professional and timely export services.

Early in inception, the company has got to the e-commerce platform. But as the result of incomprehension of network’s risk, our loss was not only money but also goods. Therefore we had doubt on the e-commerce. During the period of SARS in 2003, the circumstances at that time restricted the trip. We began to contact ALIBABA, and founded that it is indeed a good platform to sell products. Therefore, after careful inspection, we joined ALIBABA with a hesitation in 2004，and then promised that if our accounts couldn’t balance for the cost of ALIBABA one year, we will not trust any e-commerce.

There was a wide range of valuable inquiries and mails after joining. And we signed an order with the war-town Iraq in 2 months. Though we were not sure whether it’s real and can be really realized, because according to the traditional way of trade, it is not possible. But all my concerns were dispelled by the successful implementation of the contract. Only this order has recovered the cost of ALIBABA one year.

Through the network, the customers are in a wide range: from the powerful traditional trade countries, such as Western Europe, the United States, Japan, and South America; and also from underdeveloped areas, such as Southeast Asia, Africa, Russia; even the small country which can not be found in map, such as Macedonia. And the types of procurement people and agencies are diverse. There are purchasing managers of large companies, foreign commission agents, and even small shops and individuals. Those required us as foreign trade personnel to judge and select by professional e-mail. Additionally we should not be subjective and judge people with their appearance. Two years after joining the ALIBABA, a Korean with an unattractive appearance and a disabled leg, surprisingly appeared at the door of our company. However, at that time we still gave him a formal business reception, and sent him several samples. But actually, we did not put it in our hearts and minds. It’s even more than a surprise that, after a few months, we received the order of the client agent, which is the famous enterprise — Bayer Corporation.

With the help of ALIBABA, the company is correspondingly growing. At present, the staffs are accustomed to dealing with the customer inquiries from ALIBABA. If there is fewer customer inquiries from ALIBABA, the operational staff will not be satisfied, because they has been considered ALIBABA as a never-ending exhibitions.

Source: http://news.alibaba.com/

We do business with foreigners all over the world through Alibaba

Our company is located in Houjie Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China, the brand shoe center in China. We have done business in the shoe field for 15years, and established our company in 2002. We are specializing in various brand shoes. We are buying and selling stock shoes. Stock shoes have evident advantage that the price is much lower than others.

Besides, we keep promise: no imitations, high quality, and return goods once the goods have any problems. We will bring the best service for each businesses partner. We also can change logo and packing according to customer’s requirement.

We joined Alibaba in 2002 as Chinese Supplier. A few years later, we managed to explore the overseas market. At that time, the fast developing internet changed the whole world. It brought some new business concepts and chances for our company. We could communicate and do business with foreigners all over the world through Alibaba.

Currently, our customers are from different countries. because each country has difference language, habbit and culture which took a lot of difficulties for us to do business. We had to learn from experienced persons at the very beginning so as to know the business rules and suitable skills step by step. Now we have gained much experience on international business, and enjoyed a good reputation among our customers. Especially, we pay more attention to details and try our best to do everything as perfect as possible, which let our customer feel our sincerity.

Our customer group is increasing steadily and continuously. We insist in summarizing work experience and studying. We will provide the best service to our customers. Our goal is to do business with our partners pleasantly.

Source: http://news.alibaba.com/

Drop Ship Demystified for Manufacturers and Online Retailers

Drop shipping, also known as direct shipping, should be in your lexicon if you are a manufacturer, supplier or sell your products through retailers. If you are a manufacturer or wholesaler who is noticing the trend that retailers want to carry less inventory and order smaller quantities, you will find this blog article to be full of helpful information. If you are a retailer looking to add products to your store; but, don't want to hold inventory, this article may help you decide whether to expand your product catalog with drop ship products.

This blog post will cover the basics of drop shipping, some reasons for the growth in drop shipping and how a manufacture can start drop shipping for retailers. I'm not going to profess to know every way to offer your distribution channel drop ship; but I'll cover the basics of manufacture drop shipping, and I hope readers will comment with thoughts and recommendations to push the conversation further

You may also find value in my earlier post (to which this is a follow-up) on ToyFair 2009, where I outlined drop ship fulfillment as a critical feature routinely requested by retailers and offered by toy inventors and manufactures.

What is Drop Ship and Why Should You Care?

Drop ship fulfillment is the epitome of "just-in-time" inventory. With drop shipping’s model, the retailer does not keep any merchandise in stock. Instead, buyer orders are sent directly to the manufacturer or wholesaler, who then ships the item to the buyer. Drop shipping is common among e-tailers, catalogers or mail order businesses that offer a very large product catalog to retailers that can’t or don’t want to invest in inventory..

Let’s look at a fictional example

Rob the Retailer owns RobsElectronicToys.com and has been successful selling RC cars, model robots and other electronic gizmos. Rob has some bestsellers that he knows he can sell if he buys inventory, but his warehouse is small and he doesn't yet want to outsource order fulfillment to add capacity. Before he invests in a new product he likes to test it. Rob has been looking at stocking some expensive new electronic games like Rock Band™ and some expensive Karaoke machines. He is concerned that these may not fit his target niche; but, he thinks they will sell well. Calling around to manufacturers and wholesale suppliers, he realizes that to make a return he would need to invest a lot of money into inventory to get the best pricing breaks. He's nervous and just wants to test the market for a few months. He doesn't want to join the affiliate program for another electronic toys website because he doesn't want to lose the sale. Rob finds Don's Drop Ship Electronics, who will drop ship orders of the products Rob wants to sell directly to Rob's buyers.

Why using a drop ship supplier may be right for Rob:

* A drop ship supplier will allow Rob to close the sale on his site and pass the order to the supplier for fulfillment to the buyer. On each transaction, Rob is selling retail, buying wholesale and asking the supplier to ship to the buyer. Rob keeps the sale.

* Rob gets to expand his product catalog and test this new market. This way, he can stock it if it sells well.

* Rob doesn't stock inventory or have to ship the product; but, he gets a bit higher margin than an affiliate for the risk of billing and customer support, and he closes the buyer through his own shopping cart.

There are a few things that Rob needs to watch out for

1. Investigate the supplier. They must be reputable, ship products from a reputable carrier and not charge excess drop ship fees. Shop around. Remember if the supplier drops the ball on fulfilling the order, Rob has to deal with the customer.
2. Hot products can sell out, resulting in a back-order with the supplier and a support call to the buyer. Rob can always buy a small wholesale order or stock just a few products in his warehouse to protect against sell outs.
3. Ask about shipping, returns and credit card charge-back policies.

Why does it make sense for a manufacturer, supplier or distributor to offer drop shipping?

* Many retailers don’t want to invest in large quantities of inventory or minimum order amounts. Offering drop ship is a step between an affiliate and a wholesale account.

* Affiliates are often reluctant to buy wholesale, as they likely do not have their own fulfillment or warehouse solutions.

* Many manufacturers or wholesalers, like Don, have a huge product catalog that they want to give retailers access to. Often the 80/20 rule applies; 80% of the sales are generated against 20% of the product catalog. Offering drop ship opens up new sales opportunities to the long tail of his product catalog.

* Don knows that shipping and fulfillment are something that he can do well or outsource to a fulfillment company effectively because he has the largest economies of scale. By controlling the shipping process, Don protects his brand and tightly controls his distribution model.

* Don can charge fees to drop ship. He can now set up exclusive territories and know they are being enforced.

Before Don jumps into drop ship here are some things he should think about:

* Drop ship requires a warehouse to have robust pick-and-pack (direct to consumer) processes. To drop ship a warehouse needs to support 1-Day, 2-Day, ground and overnight shipping (maybe international); boxes and packaging for direct-to-consumer is different than B2B and returns processes need to be thought through.

* If you are used to shipping freight you will need to support parcel carriers like UPS, FedEx, USPS.

* Your product catalog has to be in a dynamic format and will likely need to support electronic feeds. The data can't be a printed wholesale catalog.

* Dynamic inventory updates and real-time inventory numbers must be supplied to your drop shippers and any drop ship marketplaces.

* You have to be committed to pick/pack and drop ship...or you should outsource this. You can always bring it back in-house.

How can a manufacturer, supplier or distributor power drop ship fulfillment?

* Manual: Provide retailers with enough information to post your products on their website. Provide product images, descriptions, wholesale price, MSRP, etc and updates on inventory. Provide them with an e-mail account, phone number or order form to input orders to you. You need to also provide shipping options, returns procedures and charge-back processes. This method allows a manufacture to truly stay in close contact with the retail channel; but, automation is obviously lacking.

* Shopping carts: If you have your products in a shopping cart, look to your cart to see if it can export your product data into an XML format or give your retailers product pages that plug straight into your shopping cart.

* Manufacturer drop ship software: There is software out there for manufacturers and suppliers that run their own fulfillment. One program I've seen is Order Storm. I can't vouch for the viability of this software; but, perhaps a reader can.

* Outsource: If you are a wholesale manufacturer or supplier and your fulfillment and automation processes today are geared toward B2B/wholesale shipping, consider outsourcing your fulfillment to a pick-and-pack operation that can help you automate the inbound order processing, handle the pick/pack and returns and give you live inventory data. This is exactly what the Shipwire drop ship fulfillment integration with Doba provides. Shipwire and Doba work together to allow you to outsource the fulfillment and supply inventory data feeds to Doba who will syndicate the data to their 20,000+ e-tailers. These etailers source drop ship inventory from the Doba marketplace and sell it on their websites. The Shipwire - Doba connection is free. Now manufacturers can outsource product drop ship fulfillment.

Additional Resources For Drop Ship and Fulfillment

*Doba – Doba provides a marketplace to connect e-tailers with drop ship friendly suppliers and the technology platform to manage order flow and product availability. Doba is only available for U.S. orders; however, it is open to international suppliers via the Shipwire-Doba connection.

*Shipwire manufacture drop ship fulfillmen – Shipwire provides a global warehouse network to store product and automate order fulfillment or drop ship fulfillment.

*World Wide Brands – International drop ship education. The team at World Wide Brands has done a great job of providing educational tools for merchants and suppliers entering into drop ship. They provide a directory of drop ship-friendly suppliers. WWB is a great resource to connect with drop ship suppliers and spend less time validating suppliers.

*Alibaba – a marketplace to connect buyers and sellers . Alibaba is a great resource to compare product costs and start building your supply chain if you move beyond drop ship.

Source: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/

Great Indian Travel Bazaar 2009 to boost inbound tourism

RATO to organise pre and post tours for international buyers covering major tourist attractions of Rajasthan.

The Department of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan, Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Government of India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are organising the second annual Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) 2009, an international trade mart from April 19-21, 2009 at B M Birla Convention Centre, Jaipur. Last year, the event witnessed about 163 foreign buyers from 42 countries. This year, despite the global turmoil about 175 foreign buyers are expected to attend the event from 45 countries. The three day event is going to have around 200 booths and over 500 Indian sellers will be present at the event. The exhibition is focused on inbound tourism with structured B2B meetings between foreign buyers and Indian sellers. Last year, about 1,500 B2B meetings were organised, while this year the number of meetings has doubled (3,000).

Amita Sarkar, Senior Director – SAARC countries, FICCI said, “Globally, tourism sector is witnessing tough time. However, India is still attracting good number of inbound tourists which is a positive sign. In this scenario, India has a better edge over other South East Asian countries. Various relentless efforts and campaigns by MoT to promote tourism in domestic and international markets are appreciated. To further the growth of inbound sector, we organise the annual event, GITB. This event offers Indian sellers a direct opportunity to showcase their products to international buyers and stand a chance to work closely with them. This year FICCI has not arranged any special presentations by State Tourism Boards. Last year we observed that people were not interested in attending presentations. Apart from that the B2B meetings were organised outside the exhibition hall. Due to this, many exhibitors were upset as buyers did not visit their stalls. This year, we have arranged the meetings in the booth itself, so that sellers don't have to leave their booths for B2B meetings.”

Moreover, Rajasthan Association of Tour Operators (RATO) will be organising pre and post tours for international buyers covering major tourist attractions of Rajasthan. The trips will cover destinations like Jaipur, Shekhwati, Bikaner, Pushkar, Ranthambore, Kota, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Khimsar, Nimaj, Mount Abu, Ranakpur, Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur. Leading national and regional trade associations like IATO (Indian Association of Tour Operators), HRAR (Hotels and Restaurants Association of Rajasthan), IHHA (Indian Heritage Hotels Association), RATO, FHRAI (Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India), HAI (Hotel Association of India), TAAI (Travel Agents Association of India), TAFI (Travel Agents Federation of India), ATOAI (Adventure Tour Operators Association of India) and SIHRA (South India Hotels and Restaurants Association) are supporting the event.

Source: http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/

Twitthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifer's prominence in b2b appears to be growing

Business to business (b2b) marketers are always looking for new ways to reach their audience and as Twitter grows in popularity and relevance it appears more marketers are using micro-blogging.

In the past year alone Twitter has seen its membership skyrocket, growing even faster than the popular social networking site Facebook. According to statistics from Nielsen Online, Twitter saw more than 7 million unique visitors this February - a 1,382 percent increase over the same time last year.

It would appear that much of that growth can be attributed to b2b companies which are looking to use the latest tools to get an edge on the competition.

Jon Miller, vice president of marketing at b2b software company Marketo, says he has taken to using the micro-blogging service as a part of the company's marketing campaign.

"B-to-b buyers are still people, and in the end, they buy from people and not companies," he told BtoBonline.com. "If you can build a relationship with a prospective buyer using Twitter before they are actively looking, you built your brand more effectively than you could with much more expensive options."

The idea of companies using Twitter has become so prominent that Twitter unveiled ExecTweet last month which aggregates tweets from executives and marketers and is sponsored by Microsoft.

Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com/

11.8 million worldwide job losses in textile & garment sector

The impact of the economic crisis on the textile, garment, leather and footwear sectors has been dramatic. Since June 2008, over 8,200 factories have closed and an estimated 11.5 million workers have lost their jobs.

As many as a further 3 million jobs are estimated to be at risk. For many of these workers, the prospects of finding alternative employment are bleak.

The situation is particularly tragic for workers in developing countries where there are no social safety nets. In addition, as many as 80 per cent of the workers involved are women and again the vast majority are less than 24 years old and often the only breadwinner in their extended family.

Migrant workers are, as always, among the most vulnerable of these workers. Migrant workers typically owe recruitment fees - sometimes as high as US$5,000, the equivalent of ten years wages at the local minimum wage - and losing their jobs leaves them unable to pay off their debts.

Bangladesh alone has some 6 million migrant workers, many employed in overseas textile, garment or shoe enterprises and their forced return to their country will further increase pressures.

Those workers who are employed are often reduced to short-time working, face demands from employers for wage cuts, longer working hours and unpaid overtime, and this in an industry where wages for a standard working week usually fall well below what is needed to survive.

This situation has been made worse by the fact that many buyers from brands and retailers have been demanding price cuts, often in mid-contract.

Healthy companies that are able to expand - particularly those in the garment sector - often find themselves unable to do so because of the lack of liquidity as bank lending has dried up.

Unfortunately trade unions in many countries, after years of suppression, are weak and unprepared for the task of adequately representing and defending workers at this crucial time.

The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation noting that in this crisis, as in those that preceded it, workers are being asked to make sacrifices without any guarantee of reward when economic recovery returns.

It believes that urgent measures are needed to assist workers withstand the pressures of the moment and to establish a strategy for recovery. Such a plan should be comprehensive and should include the following elements:

• Governments must take the lead in relieving the crisis and preparing for recovery, providing economic, industrial and social infrastructure, including social safety nets, and strictly enforcing legislation, particularly labour legislation;
• The various stimulus packages currently being rolled out need to be increased and better targeted putting emphasis on the retention and creation of decent jobs;
• Manufacturing industry must be recognized as a key and essential element of all national economies;
• The consolidation of textile, garment and footwear supply chains should be based on shifting orders to suppliers who provide decent work through respect for international labour standards and no new suppliers should be added who do not meet this criteria;
• Demands for wage cuts and the lowering of working conditions as a means of dealing with the crisis are unacceptable should be strongly rejected;
• Demands for the payment of a living wage throughout the industry should be vigorously pursued as a key stimulus for increasing local consumption and driving recovery;
• Training and retraining, particularly of displaced workers or those working reduced hours, should be an important element in preparing workers with new skills or, where the sector has a limited future, to prepare for alternative employment;
• Companies in the sector must be provided with access to credit at reasonable interest rates;
• Workers and their trade unions must be enabled to play a full role, at all level, in tackling the crisis and in the development of strategies for recovery;
• A collaborative approach, at country level, should be fostered through the creation at the of tripartite economic and social councils for the industry in all important producing nations;
• Trade unions everywhere must rise to the challenge of organizing and adequately representing workers in the face of crisis;
• The international institutions including the World Bank and the International Labour Organization must join in a global collaborative effort to ease the impact of the crisis and to plan for recovery;
• In particular, the ILO must use the crisis to drive adherence to its core Conventions and insist that Member States enact and fully implement legislation to achieve these aims;
• The MFA Forum, which includes all the key players including governments, the international institutions, including the ILO and the World Bank, buyers, manufacturers, trade unions and civil society bodies institutions must play a pivotal role in developing a comprehensive short, medium and long term action plan for the survival and growth of the industry.

Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/

Survey to Explore Effects of Multi-Generational Preferences in B2B Sales

Research designed to identify how multi-generational values, needs and preferences impact sales performance

GenerationalDNA, a research, training, speaking, and consulting firm specializing in harnessing multi-generational talents within organizations, is launching a survey this week that will analyze how the differing buying behaviors, responses and preferences of Baby Boomers and Generations X and Y affect the success or failure of B2B product and service sales campaigns.

The survey will target sales workers from each generation working across various industries. The results of this research will be a valuable tool to help companies match and respond to multi-generational buyers in their B2B sales efforts and other sales and marketing functions. Results will be published in early May 2009.

“This research is designed to uncover how multi-generational values, needs and preferences impact sales performance,” says expert and GenerationalDNA President David Brookmire. “The hypothesis is that the desired rewards will vary by generation and that these are essential to success for all B2B companies.”

This survey is the first of many resources and tools that the firm will make available to businesses this year to help them navigate rapid workforce changes. GenerationalDNA was founded to guide organizations in identifying the challenges and issues that arise from having a multi-generational workforce, as well as in harnessing the potential and talents unique to each generation.

According to Brookmire, the generational makeup (GenerationalDNA) of the global workforce has changed significantly in the last 10 years. Today, more generations work together in single workplaces, and they have greater disparities than ever before, and the workforce GenerationalDNA will continue to have dramatic shifts in age over the next 5-10 years.

Generation Y is entering the workforce and joining Generation X, while the experienced Baby Boomer Generation is leaving to pursue retirement and other employment that suits their lifestyles. This transition is rapidly producing knowledge gaps within organizations, many of which are losing experience faster than they can replace it, and simultaneously forcing organizations to deal with the different working, learning and communication styles of multiple generations within their workforce.

“Companies must understand the issues, drivers and desires for each generation to effectively motivate them,” Brookmire says. “This is especially true for motivating sales employees to excel and meet or exceed quota. Sales leaders will need to take these multi-generational preferences into account in the design and delivery of compensation and rewards for sales excellence.”

About GenerationalDNA

Atlanta-based consulting firm GenerationalDNA specializes in harnessing multi-generational potential within organizations. Founded by generational dynamics expert David Brookmire, the firm works with client organizations to identify potentials, talents and issues relating to a multi-generational workforce, and helps them develop strategies and tactics to strengthen management, talent development, team building, communication and collaboration between generations to increase business efficiency and profitability. For more information, contact David Brookmire at 404-593-5001.

Source: http://eon.businesswire.com/

Digital marketing roundtable discusses the future of online advertising and B2B foray into social

Apr 08, 2009 – Focusing on social media and, more specifically, on how brands can integrate social media effectively into their digital marketing activity, it features the opinion of some of the industry’s foremost experts.

Katy Howell, MD of online PR agency immediate future, Eliza Dashwood, of search agency Ambergreen, and Justin Rees, of online lead generation specialists Lead Point, all offer their own unique insights and points of view. In addition, the podcast covers the rise in popularity of applications in mobile marketing, with industry specialists Dusan Hamilton, of Inside Mobile, and Jonathan Newman, Director, Enterprise Web & EMEA eSolutions of Ingram Micro sharing their thoughts on what constitutes a successful application.

The podcast opens with a roundtable discussion on emerging hot topics and issues related to social media. The panel all agree that there has been a marked increase in brands jumping on the social media bandwagon, but for the wrong reasons.

“Thousands of brands are diving into social media looking only for reach and frequency, because this is what they are used to benchmarking against. Social media is not about broadcasting what a brand has to offer and it cannot be used as simply a mechanism for pushing out information. Social media is about listening to consumers, creating conversations and engaging with a brand’s targeted audience”, Katy Howell, MD of immediate future emphasises.

The discussion then turns to the efficacy of social media as a marketing tool for B2B industries. Referring to a range of recent developments and trends, such as Salesforce.com’s partnership with Twitter, SME e-businesses going online looking for information, and Twitter offering pro-versions of its service, the panel discusses whether there is an opportunity for B2B companies to engage with one another using social media. The conversation then moves on to the future of online advertising, following the recent release of Forrester research revealing that brands are planning to invest more of their marketing budgets in social media.

Finally, Dusan Hamilton of Inside Mobile, and Jonathan Newman of Ingram Micro look at the latest trend of developing branded applications specifically for the iPhone, and ask what return brands can expect from this.

Dusan Hamilton comments, “Due to the technologically advanced nature of the handset, brands are eager to explore some of the innovative ways its customers can instantly interact with its products, directly from their mobile. Mobile marketing is reaching the point where there are clear business advantages to developing and investing in relevant and entertaining applications.”

Graeme Foux, host of the podcast, says “With the additional feature on mobile marketing, this week’s podcast highlights issues that affect both B2B and B2C businesses. We aim to make sure that all the podcasts in this series offer engaging opinion and learnings on varied digital marketing topics.”

Source: http://www.prlog.org/

b2b Tests the Twitter Feed

A quick survey of titles we now follow in minonline’s own Twitter feed reveals more than a few large and small b2b publishers making creative use of Twitter. Apparently, the micro-blogging phenomenon is not just for kids, celebrity watchers and tech geeks. Business information editors are testing a range of tactics and using Twitter both to direct loyal followers to content as well as create a back channel of conversation and quick polling.

To wit:

At Oncology Times (@OncologyTimes), editors are directing some of its 218 followers to specific articles in the feature well and calling out elements of the archives. There are even shout-outs to other feeds and followers. This gives the feed the feel of custom research. Readers ask for information and the editors direct them to the articles.

Make-Up Artist Magazine (@makeupartistmag) tells its 373 followers about one of its editor's recent trip to Australia and polls the readers for their favorite industry blogs. The staff also uses the feed to drop hints about upcoming stories. This is an interesting tactic in itself. It creates an insider feel to the core readership, which gets to know what the staff is working on.

Pharm Pro (@pharmproeditor) “re-tweets” links to other publications within its feed with small commentary. In other words, the editor uses the feed as a way to direct people both to their own site but also as an edited guide to what else is of interest to the pharmaceutical professional community. A feed of feeds, if you will.

Physicians Practice magazine (@physicianspract) poses almost all of its tweets and links in the form of a question that the attached article seems ready to answer. Rather than putting a straight news feed into the Twitter feed, the editors are making custom posts that invoke the format’s more conversational tone.

WWD (@womensweardaily) surely is the most creative of the b2b Twitter users. Its “HootSuite” editor attends parties and reports live on all the dish. Apparently, Sienna Miller put a black jacket over her red dress last night at the Mysteries of Pittsburgh premiere after-party. Most b2b publishers won't have access to celebrity parties, but surely they can apply this live reporting strategy to trade events.

At Vet Insider Magazine (@vetinsider), on the other hand, we are not entirely sure what is going on between that editor and the feed's 261 followers. In most posts they do a good job of giving readers a heads-up on interviews and stories that are about to be posted. And yet we also get personal messages that drip into the feed, like “Most people love it when their Labrador puppies get vaccinations. They sleep! Thinkin’ of you, Scott?”

Okay, Twitter doesn’t always make sense. But we urge our readers to use the @minonline list of “Followed” sites to conduct their own research into what other b2b magazines are doing with this new micro-blogging tool. There is a lot of worthwhile experimentation going on out there, and we designed our Twitter feed to serve both as a window into our content but also as a directory of b2b and consumer titles that are involved in Twitter.

Source: http://www.minonline.com/

Health care information M&A activity up sharply in ’08

New York—M&A activity in the health care information and technology sector last year had a combined value of $7.3 billion, an increase of 83% compared with 2007, according to data compiled by investment bank Jordan, Edmiston Group.

There were 122 M&A transactions completed in the sector in 2008, an increase of 21% over 2007.

Jordan, Edmiston Managing Director Elizabeth Satin said she expects health care M&A activity to decline this year due to the credit crisis and other macroeconomic trends. But she remains upbeat about the sector due in part to the Obama administration’s pledging billions of dollars to expand health care and improve health care information technology.

Other factors that may help drive M&A activity in the sector include increased investment in medical records and the shortage of nurses, which when addressed will require increased medical education.

Source: http://www.btobonline.com/

My biggest grief with the Chinese parts industry

My biggest grief with the Chinese parts industry is that buying parts in China is very hard. The Chinese parts industry is losing huge amounts of business because the Chinese parts industry remains very inaccessible to many foreign buyers. I know, I shouldn’t say that, because my company is in the business of bridging the demands of foreign buyers and Chinese manufacturers. If everything I am going to write would change, I would be out of business. I’ll write it anyway.

A recent article in Gasgoo, said that “China auto parts manufacturers face a cold snap.” All who are in the parts industry know that it is much more than a cold snap. It is an ice age. Sales had begun deteriorating in the first half of 2008 due to high raw material prices, paired with high transport costs, and paired with a low dollar. In September 2008, the U.S. new car market crashed. It still hasn’t stopped crashing. Other markets, such as Europe and Japan followed.

The article in Gasgoo says: “Amid the depressing international environment, analysts commonly advise Chinese auto parts companies to turn to the domestic market. But some think differently, like Kevin Chen, president and CEO of Gasgoo.com, B2B marketplace for export and import of auto parts, who believes they should enhance exports and globalization. Chen points out that globalization will become the consensus of Chinese complete car and parts manufacturers in the future, and they need to enhance their management, by making full use of the opportunities coexisting with the financial crisis.”

Both views are right. The domestic car industry still shows some growth. It will also consolidate to fewer makers and brands. Consolidation is always dangerous for suppliers.

Kevin Chen is right. Especially during times of crisis there are big opportunities for low costs producers. The biggest opportunities are in the after sales market. The after sales markets in the U.S. and Europe are huge and are very stable. A car purchase can be delayed. A defective brake must be repaired.

The Chinese parts industry is mostly focused on OEM sales. In that, it doesn’t need any help. But worldwide new car sales are way down, and by all projections, it will take many years for them to recover. It’s the focus on OEM sales, along with a cratering new car market that is hurting the Chinese parts industry.

The after sales market is there for the taking. But as Kevin said, parts manufacturer must adapt to make full use of the opportunities.

Source:http://news.alibaba.com/