Trading environments : Electronic commerce

Many organisations are now adopting the Internet as a new channel to market - and in particular are publishing their product catalogues on-line with the capability of accepting orders. However, as more catalogues emerge the reliance upon d discrete catalogues will become less tenable for suppliers and buyers alike - buyers would be unlikely to find the best merchant without some sort of sophisticated help, and similarly suppliers would find it hard to reach their potential customer base. This approach, driven by the supplier, will almost certainly be complemented by other kinds of market-place driven more from the buyer's perspective. Three main kinds of market-place are envisaged, namely seller-driven, buyer-driven and ○ open markets.