The honeymoon period is over for B2B e-commerce, delegates were told at a trading exchange conference hosted by IGD. GlobalNetXchange chief executive Joe Laughlin said members of exchanges want to see results now, not in the dim and distant future. Firm progress has already been made at GNX as online auctions become established, CPFR pilots progress and new online product development work gets under way, said Laughlin. "We have more real product on the market than any of our competitors, and we have driven more volume through GNX, probably, than all the other exchanges put together." Over $1bn of transaction volume has gone through GNX to date with 400 auctions likely to take place this month. Nantwich based bread manufacturer Primebake said exchanges provide opportunities for even very small suppliers to launch new products, manage promotions and sell surplus stock via auctions. "We'll be using auctions to procure raw ingredients for our business within a month," said Primebake operations director Ian Robertson. Sainsbury has held over 70 auctions on 120 SKUs on items for resale and not for resale, from dairy products to tyres and even promotional space. It is now six weeks into a CPFR pilot with Unilever on 24 SKUs in the fabric conditioner category. "Already we are seeing significant benefits for both parties," said Sainsbury trading director Martin Webb. But online catalogues will be the key to driving out unnecessary costs in the supply chain, he added. GNX web based systems for new product development should half the time to market, said Webb. "We are working hard to develop this now, and pilots are due to start at the end of the year." {{NEWS }}

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