More local firms using e-commerce

JAKARTA (JP): An increasing number of companies in the chemical, agriculture, pulp and paper sectors are employing the e-commerce platform to make procurements, bids and transactions, said the president of B2B e-commerce facilitator BidNets.com.

Andrie Yapsir said on Thursday at least 400 companies from Indonesia and other Asian countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan, had signed up for the company's services since its launch in March this year.

"The demand for e-commerce services and facilities is so huge. At BidNets, we have sees the total volume of transactions by those companies grow to more than US$100 million," he said.

Andrie predicted the volume of transactions would reach about $1 billion by the end of the year in line with expectations that more companies will sign up for the company's services.

Companies have changed the way they use e-commerce because they want to enhance their networks and boost transactions while at the same time improving management efficiency, said J. Kriswanto, president of Indosatcom, a business-to-business e- commerce subsidiary of PT Indosat.

He said streamlining the business process could help companies reduce their production costs by between 25 percent and 50 percent.

"At the end, the low operational costs will allow companies to reduce their selling prices by between 4 percent and 20 percent, making their products more competitive," he said.

Indosatcom and BidNets, which is a subsidiary of the widely diversified Sinar Mas Group, entered into an agreement on Thursday to utilize each other's e-commerce services and facilities.

Under the agreement, suppliers and buyers currently registered with BidNets will be able to process their on-line transactions using Indosatcom's e-commerce portal www.dagang2000.com.

The portal, which was established early this year, currently serves major local companies, including cosmetic manufacturers Sari Ayu Martha Tilaar and Mustika Ratu, department store chain Matahari Group, pharmaceutical company Kalbe Farma Group, Bank Niaga and Bank Internasional Indonesia.

Kriswanto said his company and BidNets would initially share the revenue from their collaboration.

He said there was a possibility the companies would form a joint venture in the future to strengthen their position as an e- commerce facilitator in the regional market. (cst)