B-to-B Portal Launched for Industrial Supplies

PurchasingCenter.com launched as a
business-to-business portal focusing on what it calls “the highly fragmented,
$187 billion industrial supplies market.”

PurchasingCenter.com said it will provide maintenance, repair and operations
(MRO) buyers in small and mid-sized companies with a source of content and
commerce tools that will allow them to find suppliers and buy products more
efficiently.

Very few industrial suppliers have embraced the Web, the company said.
Currently, only three of the top 100 industrial distributors have online
commerce capabilities.

PurchasingCenter.com said it will bring MRO buyers and suppliers together by
providing
suppliers with an immediate, risk-free presence on the Web.

‘
“MRO supplies are highly critical products that account for 30 percent to 35
percent of most manufacturers’ expenditures,” said Tim Minahan, senior
analyst of the Aberdeen
Group’s e-Business practice.

“However, purchasing of MRO goods and services
remains a paper-based, labor-intensive, and poorly controlled activity for
most
manufacturers. PurchasingCenter.com addresses these issues.”

Co-founded by a team of industry experts from organizations such as Grainger,
American Express and Open Market, PurchasingCenter.com offers: Content and
tools, breaking news affecting supply markets, a searchable archive of
articles, white papers and case studies on supply management, product
specific, installation and configuration information, a supplier directory
and a searchable database of 6,000 distributor locations representing 9,000
manufacturers.

The site also offers an Internet quoting system for sending electronic
Requests For Quotes (RFQs) to suppliers and automating responses.

Excess
inventory auctions for industrial supplies (with over $10 million of
inventory at launch) also will be conducted.