4 companies tap BayanTrade facility

Four multinational companies in the technology, power generation, manufacturing and finance sectors have integrated their procurement practices with leading business-to-business e-marketplace BayanTrade.

BayanTrade marketing, sales, and business development director Virgil Pedro said multinational companies integrating into the online eMarketPlace include Stradcom International Holdings, Inc., ALSTOM Power, 3M Philippines and SunLife Financial Services.

Pedro attributed the surge in the number of non-consortium members integrating into BayanTrade to the growing interest in e-commerce in the Philippines.

"The obvious benefits of being a part of the eMarketPlace have been acknowledged by the business community. There is little argument that eProcurement and eBidding on BayanTrade significantly reduces procurement cost, and increases business efficiency," he said.

BayanTrade was organized by six of the country’s leading business conglomerates, namely Ayala Corp., Benpres Holdings, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., United Laboratories, JG Summit, and Aboitiz Equity Ventures. It is chaired by Ayala Corp. president Jaime Zobel de Ayala II.

Initially Pedro said BayanTrade focused on consortium buyers. "These were member groups of the founding members. But with the surge of interest from non-consortium companies, we now expect them to equal consortium buyers in number by next year," he said.

"The critical mass of buyers and sellers developed over the first six months of operations has created the momentum to rapidly expand our base of active buyers and sellers," said BayanTrade managing director Carol Carreon. "We now have over 130 active buyers, and over 200 suppliers from various industries. As a result of this uptake, our pass-through value of over two billion pesos substantially exceeds our original target for the first half of the year."

Carreon said she expects the rate of buyer integration and supplier adoption into the eMarketPlace to further accelerate despite "challenging economic conditions."