Pay per enquiry

The B2B sourcing specialists have long focused on the importance of reader response to tieing in their clients. Even back in the days of magazines and 'bingo cards', companies such as Global Sources developed significant skills in managing this feedback loop.

We read with interest then this interview at the JLM Pacific Epoch site with Chen Dong, the CEO of Shenzhen's ECVV.com. I have to confess that, hard as we try to track all the online B2B activity in the region, this one had passed us by. Its claim to be "one of the largest B2B (business to business) websites in the world" is stretching things a bit; it has an Alexa ranking of around 7,200 and claims 2008 revenues of Rmb30mn (up from Rmb25mn in 2007).

However, take a look at what Chen says about their pricing model:

Our business model is different from more traditional companies that rely on fixed, annual fees. Our registered suppliers put RMB 5,000 down to open an account and we deduct RMB 30 from the account each time a supplier responds to an inquiry that they receive for free from our buyers. In addition, we offer a monthly package for RMB 390 that allows for unlimited inquiry response and annual packages for RMB 8,000, RMB 15,000 and RMB 25,000. About 30% of the suppliers who sign up for our pay-per-inquiry service transfer to monthly or annual packages, another 30% will churn after their first year and the remaining 40% will stay on as pay-per-inquiry users.

Read the whole interview. It's interesting. We'll be following this one quite closely.