B2B Marketing Study Identifies Risk Gap between Vendors and Buyers

KELOWNA, British Columbia, Apr 30, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Findings from a new comprehensive study on B2B buying by Enquiro show a difference in vantage points between buyers and their drive to eliminate risk, and vendors who assume a rational buying process. The research identifies a common "risk gap" that will depend on a number of factors, including a vendor's physical presence in the market, the number of people involved in the buying organization, and a product's recognized differentiation.

When businesses buy, risk - and the subjective human evaluation of risk - complicates the marketer's buying funnel model. "It's easy for us as marketers to oversimplify rather than bring out the real distinctions in the marketplace. In looking at some of the grey areas, this research is going to help us all be better aligned with real-world customer behavior," says Mark McMaster, Google's Senior Planner of B2B and Technology Markets. Ben Hanna, VP of Marketing at Business.com, adds, "I want to emphasize how important this research is to providing B2B marketers a more realistic, and ultimately more useful, understanding of the business buying funnel."

In the 18-page paper titled Mapping the BuyerSphere, author Gord Hotchkiss examines different buyer roles, the identified risk control mechanisms, and the relative effect of a vendor's credibility and positioning. The paper also presents a mapping process for marketers to gain the necessary external perspective on their products, marketplace, and business buyers in order to more effectively reach and engage their potential customers.

The white paper and accompanying webinar are part of Enquiro's ongoing B2B Expert Series, and are available at www.enquiro.com/b2bresearch. The study is published by Enquiro with the help of Google, Business.com, Marketo, Demandbase and Covario.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/

China's C2C and B2C sectors ride out economic storm in Q1, B2B struggles

Shanghai. April 29. INTERFAX-CHINA - China's online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sectors maintained a high rate of growth in the first quarter of 2009, although the business-to-business (B2B) sector struggled due to the global economic downturn, according to a report released on April 29.

China's C2C sector generated revenues of RMB 44.19 billion ($6.47 billion) in the first quarter of 2009, up 15.7 percent quarter-on-quarter, according to the report by iResearch. Revenues from the B2C sector reached RMB 2.51 billion ($367.7 million) in the period, up 12.2 percent from the previous quarter.

However, China's B2B sector revenues slid by 7.2 percent quarter-on-quarter to RMB 1.37 billion ($200.7 million). The drop was mainly due to a fall in transactions from overseas purchasers. During the first quarter of 2009, China's overall foreign trade dropped by 24.9 percent to $428.7 billion year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Taobao remained the top operator in China's C2C sector for the period, with an 82.2 percent market share. Tencent Paipai and EachNet followed with respective market shares of 10.5 percent and 7.3 percent.

The largest B2C operator in the period was 360buy.com, with a 22.9 percent share of the market. Joyo and Dangdang followed, with market shares of 15.14 percent and 12.75 percent respectively.

Alibaba.com led the B2B market in the first quarter with a 58.4 percent market share. GlobalSources.com and Made-in-china.com ranked second and third, with respective market shares of 9.5 percent and 4.4 percent.

iResearch predicted that the global economy will show signs of recovery in the second quarter of 2009. Aas such, China's C2C and B2C sectors will maintain their growth, and the B2B sector will recover to exhibit growth of 15 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Source: http://tmt.interfaxchina.com/

"90% of our orders come from Alibaba.com"

Foshan BANBO Lighting&Electron Co., Ltd., was established in 2002 and specializes in Vehicle Lighting and Electronic Products. Thanks to our sincere attitude, professional knowledge and high quality products, we grew rapidly to become one of the top ten suppliers to enjoy high reputation in the domestic industry within 4 years.

In 2006, we became a Gold Supplier on Alibaba.com and started to expand our business overseas. We received many inquiries via Alibaba.com and met many excellent customers, most of whom were from areas such as North and South America, Europe and Southeast Asia which eventually became our main markets.

In the beginning, we put all our product photos and descriptions on our Alibaba.com Company Website and thought that’s enough to attract foreign buyers. Alibaba.com provided many good suggestions to us such as improving the quality and appearance of our pictures, simplifying and highlighting the selling points in the description, changing the page’s background design to be more professional, and updating our products’ information promptly, etc. These suggestions helped us attract more attention from customers. Besides, the 3rd Year Gold Supplier approval seal helps us build trust faster with our customers.

Alibaba.com also offers many courses and trainings to improve our sales and marketing ability. We learned a lot from that. We believe that innovation and development are the lifeblood of a company. So we keep on learning and listening to the world. Alibaba.com offers us chances to learn from other successful cases and experienced members of the industry, and keeps us advancing with the times.

Currently, 90% of our orders come from Alibaba.com which gives us a very good platform to show BANBO to the world. E-commerce is a worldwide trend. We are doing our best to introduce our company to the world, and also to learn more about the world. It’s all about communication, and I believe Alibaba.com is a good B2B platform and a valuable acquisition to productive enterprises.

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

Paper Industry Showing Signs of Slowdown

The paper and printing industry in India had successfully withstood the recessionary pressures till now. However, this might change soon. Given the mounting recessionary pressures, the sector may not be able to remain immune to the ongoing economic crisis for long.

The threat posed by cheaper imports has put the domestic paper industry under tremendous pressure to cut down on prices. Moreover, the demand slump in the domestic market has also become a cause of concern for small and mid-sized paper manufacturing units.

Cheaper imports a threat

SMEs, which account for a major share in the writing and printing paper industry, recorded a double-digit topline growth and posted healthy net profits during the last financial year. However, increasing imports of low-cost paper products from countries like China and Indonesia have made it unlikely for small-scale paper manufacturing units to sustain their revenue growth.

As Gurbir Singh, Director, Hemkunt Paper Mills Ltd, says, “Dumping of low-priced paper from other countries has put our profits at stake. In wake of the continuous pressure from cheaper imports, we might be required to cut our prices to remain competitive.”

During last year, the Indian paper market witnessed a five-fold jump in the monthly import of coated paper. The total import of this paper rose to 10,000 tonnes in 2008 from 2,000 tonnes in the previous year.

The imported coated paper is 15% cheaper than the ones manufactured by the Indian paper units. Due to the higher prices, paper manufacturers are losing their competitive edge in the market.

Falling export orders affecting paper SMEs

Besides the onslaught of cheaper imports, small paper units are also witnessing reduced demand for paper in the international market. Declining outsourcing orders in publishing as well as dwindling demand from software and e-ticketing business have cast a shadow over the prospects of the sector in the coming quarters.

Lower international prices have compelled Indian paper units to review their pricing policies. Global paper prices dropped down to $750 a tonne a few months back from a high of $1,000 a tonne, thereby compelling domestic paper units to slash their prices. But most small paper manufacturers are not in a position to reduce prices, since any further price correction would imply a complete erosion of their bottom line.

As Jagdish Kothari, CEO, Ajanta Impex, says, “Any drop in the global paper prices will simultaneously put us under pressure to cut back prices on the domestic front. However, most of the manufacturing units are in no position to make further price-cuts since they operate on paper-thin margins.”

To abate the rising pressure on the price front, the paper manufacturing industry has sought safeguard duties on imports from the government to shield small players from the adverse affect of cheaper imports.

Moreover, given the volatile market situation that paper sector is currently witnessing, it is advisable that paper manufacturing companies tread cautiously.

Source: http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=node/27271

Pakistan, Bangladesh should focus on joint ventures and investment: Envoy

ISLAMABAD—High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Yasmeen Murshed has said that Pakistan and Bangladesh should enter joint ventures and enhance cooperation in Jute, IT, Energy, Tourism, Oil & Gas, Services and other sectors to take full advantage of each other’s complementarities.

She expressed these views while addressing business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) during her visit to ICCI on Tuesday.

She said Pakistani businessmen have shown much interest in Bangladeshi Jute sector while other areas of Bangladeshi economy also offer attractive trade and investment opportunities.
She said there was a need to enhance people-to-people and business-to-business level contacts to explore more areas of common interest in both the countries. She said experts of both countries involving public and private sectors should sit together to sort out the non-tariff trade barriers between the two countries.

Mrs. Yasmeen Murshed said new governments are in place in both the countries and they are very confident and interested to boost up trade and economic relations up to their full potential. She said Bangladesh has put in place number of institutions to handle business community problems.

She said a Joint Economic Committee meeting between Pakistan and Bangladesh was expected to be held in June 2009 to further enhance bilateral economic relations. She stressed for the need of governments interventions to settle the problems and issues, which were proving bottlenecks in promoting bilateral trade.

She said both countries should revise shipping protocols to encourage and promote the role of private sector for establishing direct shipping lines between the two countries. She said Bangladesh desires immediate conclusion of Early Harvesting Program with Pakistan as a first step and its successful results would pave way for Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.

In his welcome address, Mian Shaukat Masud, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized for enhanced exchange of trade delegations to explore business potential and hold B2B meetings, which will eventually increase trade and investment between Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Highlighting issues being faced by Pakistan with Bangladesh, he said for Pre-shipment Inspection of its goods, Pakistan should be waived off from inclusion in the block of countries for which the authorized agent was the Dubai based Bureau Veritas as it was discouraging Pakistani exporters and delaying their shipments to Bangladesh.

He said Bangladesh should resolve Pakistani pharmaceutical companies’ problems regarding registration of their drugs in Bangladesh. He said both countries should open bank branches in each other to facilitate the business communities in promoting trade and investment while a Dispute Resolution Body should be formed at government level for speedy resolution of payment disputes.

He said special Warehouses for Pakistani products should be established in Bangladesh while Pakistan should also establish similar facility for Bangladeshi exporters to promote their Exports to Afghanistan and CIS countries.

He said two countries could also greatly benefit from each other’s experience in engineering, education, telecommunication and data communication sectors beside cooperation and collaboration in textile industry.

She said a Joint Economic Committee meeting between Pakistan and Bangladesh was expected to be held in June 2009 to further enhance bilateral economic relations. She stressed for the need of governments interventions to settle the problems and issues, which were proving bottlenecks in promoting bilateral trade.

She said both countries should revise shipping protocols to encourage and promote the role of private sector for establishing direct shipping lines between the two countries. She said Bangladesh desires immediate conclusion of Early Harvesting Program with Pakistan as a first step and its successful results would pave way for Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.

In his welcome address, Mian Shaukat Masud, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized for enhanced exchange of trade delegations to explore business potential and hold B2B meetings, which will eventually increase trade and investment between Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Highlighting issues being faced by Pakistan with Bangladesh, he said for Pre-shipment Inspection of its goods, Pakistan should be waived off from inclusion in the block of countries for which the authorized agent was the Dubai based Bureau Veritas as it was discouraging Pakistani exporters and delaying their shipments to Bangladesh.

Source: http://dailymailnews.com/200904/08/news/dmcitypage01.html