Steel yourself

A new business-to-business e-commerce portal is set to meet the online needs of traders.
By : Roseanne Gerin

   StalPortal, a business-to-business e-commerce site for steel traders, will be launched in August, said Michał Michalski, spokesman for ComputerLand. The project is a joint venture of the IT systems integrator and six other companies.

   StalPortal was set up last December with an initial share capital of zł. 3.5 million ($875,000) for the online sale of steel and industrial products. It will join ce-market.com, an online exchange for metal producers, traders and buyers, which was launched last December by metal trading company Impexmetal and IT powerhouse Prokom Software. StalPortal will derive revenue from online ad sales and commissions on transactions, Michalski said.

   Also, Centrum Handlu Internetowego (CHI), an online shopping mall created last November by ComputerLand and media giant Agora, will commence e-commerce transactions in July, Michalski said. The two companies jointly invested a total of zł. 6 million ($1.5 million) to create a site where small and medium-sized companies could offer online goods without buying expensive technology.