Tue, Sep 07, 1999 page17

• Asian Sources opens Taiwan Internet portal

  E-COMMERCE Taiwan Sources, a new Internet portal, has 1,840 Taiwan companies with 30,000 products ready for export online. The site is looking to pull in US$15m

  • By Steve Hands / STAFF REPORTER
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  Asian Sources, the Hong Kong-based buyer and supplier "infomediary," yesterday launched its local e-commerce portal, Taiwan Sources Online (www.taiwansources.com). The site is already on track to pull in over US$15 million in revenue for the firm in the next year, and services a buyer client base with net annual purchases totaling US$813 million in 1999. However, despite the potential for rapid expansion, local Internet analysts say significant obstacles to the expansion of e-commerce still exist in Taiwan.

  "All companies must become Internet companies, and they are all faced with this decision: do they open their own infomediary (PR) department, or do they enlist some other company to take over these functions for them?" said Asian Sources CEO Craig Pepples (裴克為) at the Taiwan portal launch in the Hyatt yesterday.

  This is essentially what Asian Sources -- which has now set up its Web site Global Sources Online and plans to expand with a series of individual portals for each country -- is planning to do. And, it would seem, this is a service in particular demand in Taiwan, with its plethora of export-oriented small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

  Registering with Taiwan Sources allows these companies to conveniently surmount what has been described as the biggest obstacle to the development of e-commerce: that every company will have a different style of homepage, making it time-consuming for buyers to locate the items they require.

  Altogether Global Sources Online hosts more than 4,200 suppliers with 71,000 detailed product profiles. Although around 40 percent of its suppliers currently come from Taiwan, the firm also has a significant presence in Hong Kong, Singapore and China, and has branch offices in most countries in Southeast Asia. Buyers include such huge retailers and multinationals as WalMart, Dell, Canon, JVC, Philips, Toys 'R' Us, WHSmith, Sony and Samsung.

  To subscribe, the basic package costs US$600 per month, for which the supplier will be given a custom-made homepage, a company profile, and an "electronic product showroom" in which to display up to 15 products, with photos and full descriptions.

  Progress has been fast. "Three or four years ago, no one really understood it [e-commerce], especially not the SMEs. Our account executives were like evangelists, spreading the word about the Internet. Now everyone knows," said Paul Mottram, a Manila-based vice president of the firm.

  Mottram said that Taiwan was still the biggest single market for the company, with 232 staff out of a global workforce of over 1,500, but that China, with 29 offices and 534 employees, was growing fastest.

  E-commerce was proving a boon to mainland SMEs in alleviating the disadvantages they had previously suffered in the communications field. "The Internet is definitely leveling the playing field between China and Taiwan," Mottram said.

  However, he believes that Taiwan SMEs still retain many comparative advantages, despite the higher wage costs, as they "have experience with dealing with Western buyers." Also, buyers "like to come to Taiwan because of quality and security. ... They normally make Taiwan the first stop on any Asian buying tour," he added.

  However, local analysts are not so gung-ho about the immediate prospects for expansion of SME e-commerce.

  "E-commerce is not so popular yet," said Jerry Huang (黃明儒), Internet analyst at Jardine Fleming (怡富證券). "Taiwan's SMEs still use traditional methods like l/cs [letters of credit] to settle their accounts."

  Huang is also not convinced that SMEs will jump at the chance to hook up with Taiwan Sources. "Most SME s want their own Web pages so they can link up with ICPs [Internet content providers], but even with Web pages their visibility is very low." According to Huang, search engines used in Taiwan still have lots of problems calling up these sites, whether they are dealing with Chinese or English versions.

  However, as well as having 1,840 clients already signed up, Taiwan Sources lists the contact details of a further 23,000 Taiwanese firms -- all of whom are seen as potential customers for the homepage service.

  One field in which Taiwan Sources can score particularly strongly is in databank creation, Huang believes. "They are building up business relations as well as homepages," Huang said. "They can ask these companies to provide them with customer information -- this is very important in the Internet market."
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