Electronic trade picks up, platforms at last begin to break into profit

This result was chiefly obtained thanks to Warszawska Giełda Towarowa (WGT) offering agricultural products, auction services such as Allegro, and B2B platform Marketplanet. Only now are the first Internet-based electronic trading platforms, which were opened three to four years ago, starting to show profits. One of the first out of around 30 Internet B2B marketplaces, which started showing a profit in 2002 was Netbrokers, which operates in the agricultural sector. After three quarters of 2003 the company had a net profit of around zł. 1 million. WGT, which entered the Internet business in 2001, went into the black last year, due to record high sales of zł. 2.2 billion. However, its losses since it opened amounted to zł. 11 million, and the three largest trading platforms: Marketplanet, Xtrade and Ce-Market have yet to break even. The largest 2003 turnover out of the three, of over zł. 700 million, was recorded by Marketplanet. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B1)