Forum aims to build trust in B2B market

A global trade alliance has been set up aimed at building trust in the growing business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce market.

Founded by a group of online marketplaces, the Forum for Trust in Online Trade is establishing standards for global B2B ecommerce.

The forum has been set up by five online trading hubs: Fasturn, MeetChina.com, PaperExchange.com, Rebound.com and VLinx. The group has also created a strategic business relationship with SGSonSITE, which inspects, tests and verifies online vendors.

Frederic Weill, digital strategist at consultant Cambridge Technology Partners, said: "Unlike a stock exchange which has an organisation like the SEC monitoring transactions, no such mechanism is in place for today's electronic exchanges."

If businesses are to embrace exchanges, they will need to implement international codes and standards, said Weill. These are being drafted and edited by the founding members, and will be discussed at the forum's inaugural meeting, taking place in the US in September.

Although most companies attending the conference are expected to come from the US, a spokesman for the forum said that it anticipates significant representation from Europe and Asia.

The summit, called Linking the Virtual to the Physical: Building Trust in the Global Market, will enable participants to help share international confidence-building standards for ecommerce.

Forrester Research predicts that B2B transactions flowing through online exchanges will explode, reaching $1.4 trillion by 2004. This represents 53 per cent of total online trade. The research company also predicts that online B2B trade will represent 17 per cent of total trade by 2004.