Alibaba, Trade-India, and Europages.com - Benefits of Trading Online - Speech or Presentation Example

1. List, in separate columns, the benefits and costs of using sites like Alibaba’s to trade internationally. What does your analysis say to companies like Grieve (in our opening case) as they think about their export strategy? Benefits of Trading Online Costs of Trading online 1. Ease of access to information 1. Potential for fraud 2. Access to markets normally unobtainable to small businesses 2. Not being able to establish a more personal relationship with vendors once a deal has been made 3. Increased choice of items to choose 3. Loss of control of the process due to geographic restrictions 4. Opportunity to for better cost analysis and price for trading 4. Increase in logistics costs as items can come from anywhere in the world 5. Reduced time to source materials 5. If you are not satisfied with a company then it would be costly to find resolution 6. Ability to source items at a cheaper price 7. Agility to trade with numerous suppliers A company determining their export would have to ask themselves what their priorities are. Some organisations may need to products that they can get relatively quick. If this is the case, then sourcing products that are not easily accessible may become a problem with their performance and customer service levels. However, if a company does not have an issue with time and the priority is cost, then using online sourcing sites such as www.alibaba.com can provide them the maximum ability to source the cheapest products. Consideration for companies should also include with logistics options. Alternative arrangements and planning should take into account the potential of unforeseen events. An example of this is issues with lost production from a company in China due to loss of power or even natural disaster which could delay orders and potentially cause serious customer service problems. 2. Is it reasonable to speculate that eventually most trade between small-and-mediums size firms might take place in the context of sites like Alibaba.com,? If so, does that influence your inclination to consider importing and exporting? In the future most trading will be conducted using platforms such as Alibaba.com. Due to globalisation and the internet, it is not necessary for companies to only look at export strategies that are confined to small geographic areas. The internet has opened the entire world to potential buyers and sellers without the hassle of travelling the world, investing money in sourcing products through trade fairs, or using consulates, which can be time consuming. SMEs are now and will continue to be able to trade on the level of large organisations, although they may not be able to obtain better prices that larger companies can leverage. Firms are spending a larger portion of their expenses on IT to accommodate for more technology to facilitate a greater use of computers and the internet to conduct trading. As a result, the ability to incorporate such an easy medium of sourcing goods will be fundamental to most companies export/ supply chain management strategies. 3.Visit www.alibaba.com, www.trade-india.com, and www.europages.com. Compare and contrast these websites. Category www.alibaba.com www.trade-india.com www.europages.com Ease Very user friendly to search Users have to be more specific. Chooses not easy to maneduver through. Results can be in different languages which can be a barrier. No “Add to Basket” so you have to research companies one at a time Nice home page. Very simple information provided. Appearance good Good although too much text Aesthetically appealing Additional Options User Forums View in many languages Available in different languages Verification/Authentication of companies Gold Supplier and Trust Pass authentication Trust Stamp- very comprehensive No process available. You can contact company direct. Added Features Provide Tips for users, list trade show activities Has Live Help, provides Trade show info, more holistic features i.e. freight services, own mail domain for users, Has firefox-trade on demand feature “Click to Talk” and representative will call you back. User registration Do not have to register to browse Do not have to register to browse No requirement to register before use Company feedback Not listed on this site No company feedback No company feedback Overall rating Felt very comfortable choosing companies Slightly less user friendly although provides a similar service to Alibab.com Not as effective as the other two options. Site is mainly a “classifieds” of companies and users have more to research Alibaba maintains the best website and verification mechanism than the other two websites. The user has a greater sense of ease using Alibaba as well more practical utilities like the ability to chat in real-time with sellers and buyers. Transactions can potentially occur immediate without the need for emailing of telephone calls through alibaba.com. They also provide a double layer of transparency and verification that the other two sites do not posses. However, alibaba.com only uses English as a language which some international users may find as a barrier. Trade-india.com also maintains an excellent site. It is available in multiple languages and has a good appearance. Users conducting a search can get bogged down with results that are very wordy or have lots of text to filter. This could be cumbersome for some users. If offers pretty much the same options as alibaba.com and the same level of transparency, although there is no claim that companies are verified by a third-party organisation. Compared to the first two websites, europages.com is a less sophisticated website. It does have basic information for buyers and seller to view, however it does not have any web based functionality to provide the user with any information direct from its website. Users who would like to choose a company are directed to a third party site which belongs directly to the company. This decreases the level of transparency and causes more inconsistency in information the user can receive from companies. Allowing the user only access to company information directly through the companies own website can be cause for alarm when considering the issues of authentication and verification. Users of the europages.com site are mainly provided with a “yellow page” type website. There is a low level of customer service and users are required to research company information on their own. This can be a barrier for users who will have to research each company one by one and can be very time consuming. In conclusion, alibaba.com and trade-india.com are sites which are more for putting buyers and sellers in contact with each other under transparent umbrella. The third website, europages.com is mainly a “classifieds” sites that users can source information about companies but they are left with the task of contacting companies directly to get information that the other two sites readily have available. None of the websites, unfortunately have any areas where users can leave feedback on their experience with buyers/sellers. This is a feature on popular websites such as ebay.com and amazon.com that adds a level of customer ease when wanting real life feedback on how a company does business as rated by their peers. Nonetheless, if these sites were not available it would make the opportunities for SMEs to source products easily all that more difficult and costly. 4.Visit www.alibaba.com, go to “Advance Search” and enter the product you seek in the relevant box. Select relevant criteria and click on “Search”. Review the list of companies that qualify and find a suitable one. Analyze this process for ease, usefulness and potential value. The process of searching for a product on www.alibaba.com was very easy. Users are able to enter items they seek. The computer will provide you with the closest match to name of the product you enter. Another function of the system is that it provides you with alternative choices in different categories similar to your choice. The system will provide you with a list of potential companies. Most companies list the items they have with a sample picture of the items that they have available. You also have the option when selecting a potential company to find all the other items that the company offers. This is an excellent feature if you decide to choose an item and would like complementary of similar items to source from the same company to cut costs and/or possibly make a better deal through a greater volume of sales. If you choose more than one company you can tick the box to select those companies and either choose “Contact Now” or to “Add to Basket”. Even, at this stage of the process the system does not require you register on their website. This is added level of simplicity for new users or those who would like to test whether or not they would like to use the service or website. If you choose you can contact the company in the first instance to ask a question or make a comment. Once you have chosen which company(ies) you can go to directly to your choice or go to your “basket” and can research each of the companies you choose. You will be able to find contact details of the companies and other important information. Companies can have a varying degrees of authentication. Companies can be a Gold Supplier and/or have a “Trust Pass Status”. Companies with the “Trust Pass Status” have been verified by a third-party credit- reporting agency. Users can also view information about which organisation has authenticated them and other information such as the shareholders of the company. This adds another level of transparency and security for prospective users. This entire process provides the users with as much information as needed to select products, information to verify companies, a plethora of choices for the items they search and security of researching their needs without the need to leave their office. As information is very transparent, users are not labored with having to go to various other sources to find information about a company as it is all available at the click of a mouse. This saves times and provides SMEs the opportunity to access to such resources traditionally only found in large organizations. 5.How transparent do sites like www.alibaba.com make the import-export transaction? Would you still worry about fraud? Sites such as www.alibaba.com really and truly are as transparent as one can get. They do attempt to make available as much information as possible for users to be able to assess how safe they feel with choosing a company. Besides the fact that most users will never be able to personally meet the company they choose especially SMEs) it is a balance of risking being defrauded or missing an opportunity to trade goods with the wider world. Even through normal face-to-face business transaction there is always still the risk of fraud. People in this high tech work are able to provide fraudulent information about their creditors or goods available and only after a deal has been made will a buyer be aware of this. Although that buyer would had face to contact with the seller, it would still be a mammoth task to resolve problems especially if the companies are in different countries with different laws and regulations. There is a still a cost to the traditional form of business. Therefore, using online trading sites provides, on par a similar level of risk when trading. I would never suggest any company not consider the option of fraud. There will always be a risk of fraud in any area of business. The issue for any company is to balance and plan for this potential occurrence and weigh out what their greater priority in achieving the business’ objectives. WORKS CITED Last name, First name. Global Strategy, Structure and Implementation. "Export and Import Strategies” . Publisher????, year?????, page number????.       June 8, 2007. Alibaba Manufacturer Directory . June 8, 2007. Trade India manufacturer, exporters, suppliers, manufacturer directory, Indian exporters directory. . June 8, 2007. Europage, European Business Directory yellow Pages, . June 8, 2007. Grieve Industrial Ovens. Read More