The Hindu : Tapping the global e-mandi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004

Business

Business

Tapping the global e-mandi

By Anand Parthasarathy

BANGALORE, MARCH 2. A U.S.-based Indian company — Andale — which is already the world's largest service provider, for sellers on the Internet's auction sites, has created new tools that will help `desi' businesses access new international e-business markets.

The product called `Andale Research,' developed by Indian engineers at its Bangalore centre, provides a slate of data services that will help small and medium sized merchants as well as individual sellers find the best markets and obtain top prices for their wares. The product leverages the special arrangement that Andale has with the world's largest online auction site, eBay, which accounts for over half of all small e-business transactions on the web and generates $22 billion annually in sales.

Interestingly, of the 12 million items sold every week through eBay, 2.2 million were products made in India, said Andale's CEO Manjul Shah, at the product's launch on Monday. While the company already has 1.5 million registered users, mainly in North America, this fact has prompted Andale (www.andale.com) to reach out to the thousands of India-based manufacturers and offer them tools to sharpen their market savvy and reach hitherto unexplored markets.

However Andale Research would be of help not just to those who wanted to sell online but for those tapping traditional avenues, he added. The 600 million-strong data base of e-Bay sale items, harnessed by Andale for its research, has thrown up some revealing patterns: B7 Rajasthani `choker' necklaces sell well in the swanky Beverly Hills suburb of Los Angeles. B7 Indian sarees in the $18-20 price range are being used as wall drapes in the U.S. by some buyers. Furniture is difficult to sell.

B7 Over 60 cricket bats are sold on eBay every week — and they sell more on Thursdays, probably because of the upcoming weekend.

The unlimited use of such research services as well as detailed selling price information across the entire product line of eBay costs just under $4 a month. Mr Shah added that the company was exploring mechanisms that would allow Indian customers to pay in rupees. Andale also had a range of associated services that would help potential Indian sellers to use global shippers and leverage an international payment mechanism. The company that was co-founded by four Indians in 1999, is also working with the world's largest online book shop www.amazon.com to offer similar services to sellers.

In an announcement made last week in the U.S., Andale launched a new service called "Business@Andale'' that targeted the high volume `power seller' in that country.

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