Lets take a quick glance at another B2B portal – www.globalsources.com. Much like other B2B portals this one also concentrates it attention to the trade with China and no wonder because China with its massive industrial base and huge labor force can be a profitable trade partner.
The portal has more than 1 million active users and delivers information on 4.3 million items. Quite a nice spread don’t you think? The main language of communication is English which allows conducting trade with Chinese more efficiently. The portal also organizes trade shows which take place in 10 various cities.
A short history – the corporation itself was established in Manila, Philippines in 1990, but the actual B2B portal www.globalsources.com was launched in 1999. During the next ten years the portal has been steadily improved and the branches of its operations expanded which lead to the fact that today it is one of the leading B2B portals worldwide. Their main goal is to promote trade with Asia and especially the emerging economy of mainland China.
A word of caution, although B2B portals provide a wonderful opportunity to conduct international trade even on the private level, one must remember that as it is in real life fraud and scam exist also in the B2B portals. There are companies and individuals whose sole purpose is to make money every possible way which includes fraud and scam. The main reason these people succeed is because business is not conducted face to face, but over the internet and you can never be completely sure who is on the other side.
But don’t despair, it is actually not as bad as it might sound. B2B portals offer a great opportunity to conduct business on international level and it does not matter what size is your enterprise. The international market is accessible fore everyone.
