Smart
buyers worldwide know there is only one website worth bookmarking when
it comes to searching for high quality, competitively priced products
on the Internet.
Sourcing Guide
at hkenterprise.com has been making life easier and a lot more profitable
for buyers since 1996, when the Hong Kong Trade Development Council
(TDC) first realised the immense potential of online sourcing.
The hkenterprise.com
formula of offering specific marketing, sourcing and partnering services
at the TDC's award-winning tdctrade.com portal currently draws an
average of two million hits a day.
A new and exciting
dimension allows visitors to search for potential suppliers in the
whole of the Greater China region as well as Hong Kong. "The
look and feel is the same as the former hkenterprise.com, but buyers
can now browse by regions," explains TDC senior publications
manager Henry Ng.
The navigation
bar allows a buyer looking for toys, for example, to search for toy
makers by market - Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, Taiwan or Macau
- or by region.
Type in a product
name or keyword and a list of Greater China suppliers and their details
will appear on-screen. "We have more than 3,000 categories to
cover all products," adds Ng.
He says Sourcing
Guide, which is a key component of tdctrade.com, is convenient, can
be accessed whenever and wherever the buyer is and is also efficient,
as just one click provides access to banks of information.
"It is very
cost-effective as buyers enjoy free access once they have registered
online," Ng adds. "Sourcing Guide also features popular
specialties like enquiry baskets, a message centre, new product alerts
and recommended categories."
This user-friendly
approach has seen tdctrade.com recognised by ACNeilsen as The Best
Trade Promotion Portal In Asia in May 2003 and win CMP Asia's fourth
Annual Intelligent20 Awards in November that year. "tdctrade.com
also won a Standard of Excellence Web Award from the Web Marketing
Association of the US in 2002, 2003 and 2004," Ng notes.
Most visitors
to hkenterprise.com are from Asia (31%), followed by Europe (27%)
and North America (26%), with the rest split between the Middle East,
Central and South America, Australia and Africa. "Just over 26%
of visitors are importers, 16% are manufacturers and nearly 18% are
wholesalers/retailers," Ng observes.
One of the keen
advantages of hkenterprise.com is its pricing: it costs US$3,800-5,000
a year to advertise on the website. "For small and medium-sized
enterprises and overseas buyers, hkenterprise.com offers large exposure
at a very competitive price compared with similar websites,"
Ng points out.
WRITTEN BY JAMES PALMER