Neopets Case

ALIBABA.COM

Now, the internet provides a cost-effective way for SMES, even those on a shoestring budget, to jump these hurdles. Indeed, the internet has opened up a new area of business opportunities, making information on any conceivable product from virtually any market easily and cheaply available. Combined with falling trade barriers and more efficient logistics, courtesy of the WTO and companies like FEDEX, DHL,and UPS, dramatic possibilities to import and export have fueled the growth of global trade.The US Small Business Administration estimates that the number of small businesses exporting goods or services tripled from 1994 trough 2004. Growing even faster is the value ot what they trade; the value of export sales has tripled in the past five years. Forrester Research sees cross-border e-marketplace trade done by US companies exceeding US $ 400 billion in 2005.

Many companies are taking advantage of online technologies and starting or expanding their international trade. They rely on yhe internet as their primary channel for getting information, sourcing products or services, finding suppliers and marketing their products, and tapping into new markets;in many cases, these companies build a virtual value chain online. International traders, both potential and practicing, have nearly infinite resources to tap online. They can browse through catalog repositories, B2B exchanges, electronic trade boards, trade journals, and virtual trade shows to find a product they would like to import or a market that might buy their export. Increasingly, as more firms throughout the world access the internet, many entrepeneurs and trading companies use this technology as their primary means to develop their import and export business.

Recently,the emergence of country-specific portals and web exchanges has -accelerated this process. As eBay has done for consumer-to-consumer e-commerce, several sites have created online bazaars for internationas...