Connecting to manufacturers

The most aggressive business-to-business portal has its sights set on a strong national presence.

Amarpreet Nanda is cagey about the biggest order in his family’s glass business has ever received. “It’s worth a few tens of crores, from a European company,” says the 23-year-old electronics engineer, who has registered himself on various business-to-business (B2B), business-to-customer (B2C) and customer-to-customer (C2C) sites because he strongly feels a presence on the Internet is very important. The order, received by e-mail through the indiamarkets.com portal, is for a product that is “not really related” to the Nandas’ main lines. “But we are importing the machinery needed, and can do the job within six months to a year,” he says.

The over 3,000 companies which visit the site daily can similarly zero in on suppliers across geographical regions, says its founder Rohan Ajila. India’s first comprehensive B2B infomediary, indiamarkets.com is an aggregation of vertical supplier communities representing over 130 product categories about which it also provides business news updated on a daily basis, he points out. The number of registered users doubled every month in the first six months after the December 1999 launch, crossing 20,000 at last count and slated to hit the 100,00 mark by the year-end. The site generates nearly 150,000 hits and over 150 product inquiries everyday, and lists over Rs 1,000 crore worth of goods available for auction.

“People want a one-stop shop. We offer a comprehensive, complete suite of services,” says Ajila. “We are also very aggressive, with the biggest investment and one of the most interactive sites.” Ambalavanan Chockalingam, who runs an import-export business in India’s hosiery capital, Tituppur, agrees: “I am getting proper support and newsletters which is good for the promotion of business.” Chockalingam says it was thanks to indiamarkets.com that he managed to establish communication with the right manufacturerers for his customers’ input requirements.

Scalability, says Ajila, is the key factor for success: a lot of effort is on establishing a national basis, not creating just a region-specific site. The effort began with the concept of ‘industrial cafes”, bricks-and-mortar sites in each industrial area for use as sales, service, and marketing offices. “We have captured communities, like Bangalore’s Peenya and Delhi’s Okhla,” he claims. “My belief is that it’s all or nothing, you can’t do things piecemeal.” The strategy, he says, seems to be working – though it’s still too early to predict whether it will continue to work.

Other B2B sites are concentrating on relationships with specific companies – an activity which is “not relevant” to an operation as big as his. indiamarkets.com also has such relationships, he explains: “But it’s a market place, and what matters is how many companies come in, how many inquiries are generated.” Like Nanda, who has also received many other inquiries from various export houses; and Chockalingam, who has been enabled to give his support in getting good quality products, at an affordable price, in time, so that they can dispatch their goods in time”. Or Pune engineer Rajiv Didolkar, who used the site to shortlist packaging machines and materials suppliers for a start-up abrasives manufacturer. “It provides very useful industry snapshots,” says Didolkar.

….the site is investing heavily in creating brand awareness as well as content. The site will invest $10 million in the short term to set up its national sales and service network, build its brand, and develop business. “We will increase our sales force from the present 70 to about 120, and hold roadshows with our technology partners,” saya Ajila.

Revenues to offset these heavy costs are slated to come in from advertising, value-added ‘enhanced’ listings – listings are currently free, Ajila explains – and revenue – sharing with service providers like BPL and Max Page, with whom he has already tied up to provide product information on cellular telephones and pagers. “ The feedback so far has been very encouraging. We expect to break even within 24 months,” he adds.