Palo Alto, CA-based Instill Corp., a provider of
electronic commerce and information services for the food service industry,
said that $180 million worth of food and supplies were purchased using its e-
store online purchasing service in 1997.
This volume represents 2% of the 1997 business-to-business electronic
commerce, which totaled $6 billion, according to International Data Corp., a
Framingham, MA-based computer and marketing consulting firm.
At its current run rate, the company projects volume of $1 billion in 1998 in
food service supplies transactions.
While measures of and predictions about electronic commerce revenue and
transactions differ widely from source to source, many observers agree that
business-to-business electronic commerce holds more promise than consumer e-
commerce transactions.
“The significant volume of business-to-business e-commerce–let alone its
potential–doesn’t have the visibility of the much lower, but more widely
publicized, consumer e-commerce volume,” said Mack Tilling, president of
Instill. “Yet even now, business-to-business transaction volumes are
significantly ahead of consumer volumes.”
Privately held Instill’s services include e-store, an electronic purchasing
service and e-store advantage, a tool to allow operators and distributors to
gain insights into chain-wide purchasing trends.