To B2B or not to B2B?
With companies like NetBrokers, an agricultural business-to-business (B2B) e-trading platform, already turning in healthy profits, along with Polish industry being generally ripe for improved supply chain efficiency, it's hard to deny the massive potential of B2B e-commerce in this country.
"B2B makes up 80 to 90 percent of all e-commerce turnover in Poland," says Ewa Zborowska, an analyst at market research firm IDC. The figure is hard to ignore, and even top business-to-consumer (B2C) firms can't help but be in awe of B2B's potential.
"I fully agree with the opinion that the really big money in e-commerce is in B2B websites," says Zbigniew Sykulski, president of Merlin.pl, this country's Amazon.com equivalent, which eventually intends to become involved in B2B in one way or another.
But the problem with B2B, says IDC's Zborowska, is that it takes a long time to become profitable, and due to the huge costs of breaking in, very few of the top players are independent enterprises. In fact, B2B operations are rarely the core activity of its biggest players. And even going after a niche market can be a tough route.
"You have to be a really top player in one industry, so many decide to go horizontal," she says.
One example of this is Otwarty Rynek Elektroniczny SA (ORE SA), whose Marketplanet.pl, the country's leading B2B platform, which trades in everything from automotives, IT and telecoms to food and tobacco, hit profitibility at the end of 2003.
Of course, some have been able to keep a vertical focus - like NetBrokers, which has cornered this country's online agricultural trade market and currently sees no need to deviate from this path.
"This year it is very important for us to keep our position," says NetBroker's general manager Adam Wierzbowski, who for the moment has no serious plans to move beyond agriculture, although the firm is actively looking for partnerships with platforms in other EU countries.
And not much really seems to be holding B2B back, with the list of companies and their platforms reading like a restaurant menu: among them Warszawa Guilda Towarowa (WGT), Xtrade SA, Ce-market.com SA (a trader in metals) and POEE (an energy trader) - all boasting cost-saving platforms, efficient trading, and better prices, with more and more smart companies signing on to realize the benefits.
In the post-1990's slump, at least one area of the Internet still holds big promise, but just how much it will translate into cash remains to be seen.
"B2B makes up 80 to 90 percent of all e-commerce turnover in Poland," says Ewa Zborowska, an analyst at market research firm IDC. The figure is hard to ignore, and even top business-to-consumer (B2C) firms can't help but be in awe of B2B's potential.
"I fully agree with the opinion that the really big money in e-commerce is in B2B websites," says Zbigniew Sykulski, president of Merlin.pl, this country's Amazon.com equivalent, which eventually intends to become involved in B2B in one way or another.
But the problem with B2B, says IDC's Zborowska, is that it takes a long time to become profitable, and due to the huge costs of breaking in, very few of the top players are independent enterprises. In fact, B2B operations are rarely the core activity of its biggest players. And even going after a niche market can be a tough route.
"You have to be a really top player in one industry, so many decide to go horizontal," she says.
One example of this is Otwarty Rynek Elektroniczny SA (ORE SA), whose Marketplanet.pl, the country's leading B2B platform, which trades in everything from automotives, IT and telecoms to food and tobacco, hit profitibility at the end of 2003.
Of course, some have been able to keep a vertical focus - like NetBrokers, which has cornered this country's online agricultural trade market and currently sees no need to deviate from this path.
"This year it is very important for us to keep our position," says NetBroker's general manager Adam Wierzbowski, who for the moment has no serious plans to move beyond agriculture, although the firm is actively looking for partnerships with platforms in other EU countries.
And not much really seems to be holding B2B back, with the list of companies and their platforms reading like a restaurant menu: among them Warszawa Guilda Towarowa (WGT), Xtrade SA, Ce-market.com SA (a trader in metals) and POEE (an energy trader) - all boasting cost-saving platforms, efficient trading, and better prices, with more and more smart companies signing on to realize the benefits.
In the post-1990's slump, at least one area of the Internet still holds big promise, but just how much it will translate into cash remains to be seen.
