2.6 Electronic Markets

Electronic markets are platforms where buyers and sellers (and maybe a market maker) can meet. Actually this can be a computer or a farm of computers. The market has to provide the infrastructure so that companies can access the market. Today some companies (SAP ⁵, CommerceOne ⁶, Oracle ⁷ and more) are providing electronic marketplaces.

According to Choudhury [3] an electronic market has three main market making functions:

• The Identification
  is about the possibility for the user to search for a product. It depends on the complexity to describe the product as well as if the product is low in asset specification. The user gets a list of suppliers

• The Selection.
  If the user has access to the price of the items, he/she can compare prices among suppliers. This assumes that the supplier publishes prices. Another way to get a price is by running an auction.

• The Execution
  is the deal. If a supplier and buyer get matched, information is exchanged (shipping address, payment possibility, etc.) to proceed with the transaction.

Obviously electronic markets are open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Footnotes

... (SAP⁵

http://www.sap.com

... CommerceOne⁶

http://www.commerceone.com

... Oracle⁷

http://www.oracle.com