Nothing could be further from the truth.
In a field as diverse as packaging, where there is no standard product and no standard buyer, it’s impossible for one site to fit the needs of every buyer. Some sites will excel in new machinery, others in used equipment and still others in parts and components. Some will handle stock packaging better, others will do a better job in custom packaging. Some will do logistics better . . . and so on.
Indeed, packaging buyers themselves have told us as much. In our e-procurement intentions survey (p. 22), fully 50% of respondents said they’d buy from as many sites as was necessary—the number didn’t matter. Only one in five buyers said they’d limit their e-procurement activities to one or two Web sites.
Another argument against the one-size-fits-all model is the nature of the Internet itself. For buyers who use the Web for spot buying, the cost of switching to a different e-marketplace Web site is extremely low. Reason: until a specific packaging e-marketplace achieves a critical mass of buyers and sellers—and that day is a long way off—there’s very little to tether buyers exclusively to a single marketplace.
Recognizing this, some e-marketplace operators are becoming what’s known as application service providers (ASPs), providing ongoing services such as packaging specifications management or supplier/buyer consortium buying opportunities (see p. 12 for an example). Even so, there’s no reason to limit buying to just one of these sites.
In fact, I’m impressed with the breadth, depth and quality of many of the current crop of packaging e-marketplaces. But there is no ‘best’ e-marketplace for packaging, nor will there ever be. Only one thing is certain: All of them can offer benefits over traditional, paper-based procurement. Turn the page to start learning how.
