Building a global business to business exchange creates images of tangles with customs inspectors and tariff collectors - all these seem to be removed from the electronic marketplaces.  Not so.  At least two companies recognize that greatest difficulty in global trade is logistics. Celarix and Tradepac.com are building exchanges that allow potential trading partners to contract with each other on the basis of cost, service level requirements, and transit time.  These companies recognize that stretching overseas translates into more hurdles and problems than staying home.  But one company's challenges - language, customs, tariffs, and logistics - can be another's main source of revenues.

Shippers like L.L. Bean and K-mart deal with up to 30 different logistics vendors to get their products from factory floors in the Far East to retail stores on the East Coast.  Many parts of the supply chain can be automated; however, finding the best shipping rates or optimal sailing times still requires dozens of phone calls.  The development of Celarix's exchange, which enables shippers to easily compare carrier rates and services, saves companies incredible amounts of time and money.

TradePac.com is developing an online exchange for inventory liquidation and procurement of consumer goods.  They offer a valuable proposition: an exchange that eliminates the intermediaries that drive up the cost of inventory deals.  For example:  a recent sale of computer parts from Taiwan to the United Kingdom, the liquidator received $900,000, but by the time the parts reached the buyer five or six intermediaries later, the total price had risen to $1.4 million.  If the deal had gone through Tradepac.com, both buyer and seller would have made out better dealing directly with each other, while Tradepac.com would have received a fee ranging from 2 to 8 percent on the transaction.

Because these exchanges are dealing with an industry that is already adept at handling an assortment of challenges such as: customs regulations, tariff policies, and cultural differences, both Celarix and TradePac.com leave the difficulty of such tasks as obtaining letters of credit and clearing customs to the individual companies.

 Even though companies are venturing into international business to business electronic commerce, there are still many areas open for opportunities of penetration, such as supply chain management, subcontracting, and improved distribution channels.