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The weekly newsletter for everyone interested in barter--the world's most versatile business tool! |
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October 3, 2000
Inc. Magazine Rates BigVine Web Site Tops In the October issue of Inc. magazine, a group of 20 CEO's of mid-size companies viewed six barter web sites and then proclaimed BigVine's site to be the best...giving them the highest grade in all six categories! The categories included: ease of use, inventory; security/comfort, customer service, pricing, and value delivered for the price. The other barter sites graded were: BarterTrust; iSolve; Lassobucks; TargetBarter; and Ubarter. "Direct Connect" Model Another Area Of Concern For Barter Industry Changes come from many angles. And the barter industry isn't immune to such evolvement. A new forum that allows airlines, and others, to sell travel directly to corporations could prove to be a formidable and considerable competitor. The new system, GetThere Inc. is a business-to-business travel marketplace and marks a significant shift in travel distribution. In short, by selling direct, airlines, hotels, and car-rental agencies bypass traditional computer reservations systems like Sabre, Worldspan LP and Galileo International (all of which provide schedule and fare information, process bookings, and charge fees for each transaction.) Those fees can cost travel suppliers--airlines, hotels, and car-rental companies--as much as $50 to $100 a trip. Gadi Maier, CEO of GetThere, a Menlo Park (CA) internet travel company, says selling travel directly can cut distribution costs by 80%. The push toward more direct selling comes as corporations increasingly bargain directly with their preferred suppliers in exchange for discounts. And the more "direct and streamlined" the process becomes for corporate America, the less they'll need outside assistance...be it expansive reservation systems or the services of barter companies. Will Private Labeling Cut Into Barter Sales? Retailers continue to eye private labeling as a way to maximize profits from various products. The latest example is Wal-Mart selling its own brand of wine, under the Alcott Ridge Vineyards name for $6 to $7 a bottle, at 1,300 Wal-Mart stores around the world. (The private-labeled wine will be produced by the California-based Gallo winery.) Look for national grocery chains to follow Wal-Mart's move. And as the private labeling trend expands there may be less inventory available in the barter marketplace. Les French Gets "Ink" In The Wall Street Journal Former ITEX corporate employee, Les French, received a huge write-up in the September 28th issue of The Wall Street Journal. The story covered his posting of internet messages about his former company which is publicly traded, and the subsequent libel suit by ITEX to stifle his online criticism. According
to the story, French filed a countersuit and the new ITEX management
settled by agreeing to pay him $40,000. French used the funds to start
John Does Anonymous. French explained that his site serves as a kind of American Civil Liberties Union for investor chat rooms, devoted to protecting speech that is free and freewheeling--but not fraudulent or genuinely libelous--about public companies. Here And There. . .
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