From Buyers Manual
An e-marketplace is a virtual web-based application where buyers can carry out business with suppliers online. They can be used to select and order goods from a supplier, track progress, receipts and some even include facilities for invoicing and payment.
E-marketplaces often involve an online catalogue where buyers can browse and select products available for purchase via an electronic order form.
Types of e-marketplace include:-
- Private marketplaces – these are usually owned by an individual organisation or consortia organisations e.g. one buyer organisation may have a private market place including just their preferred suppliers.
- Regional marketplaces – these are similar to private ones but they are owned by a group from a geographical region. This type of marketplace can help local authorities and organisations work together in procurement and join together their suppliers.
- Vertical Marketplaces – these specialise in the trading of products in just one industry sector.
- Horizontal Marketplaces – these can connect buyers and suppliers from different industries and regions so that they can work and trade together.
Potential benefits for buyers using an electronic marketplace are; they can help streamline the order cycle by replacing manual processes with electronic ones, this in turn reduces the administration time and costs spent on searching through paper catalogues and filling out manual order forms. E-marketplaces can speed up the purchasing cycle as everything is online, improve the control of spending and give the organisation a better view of where and when their money is being spent because everything can be monitored and tracked which can reduce space for errors.
Last year the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) issued a tender for the provision and implementation of an e-marketplace. The system was planned to be used by 600 education institutions in the UK which enables a centralised system and helps to streamline the procurement process.
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