US distie takes first step in Web trading

A US company is set to be the first fully fledged Web distribution service. Trade'ex, which touted for business at this year's UK Comdex show, has introduced two Java-compliant commercial offerings aimed at persuading vendors to sell products and dealers to buy them.

The first offering, dubbed Market Maker, enables interactive trading and auctioning using the Net. Vendors can change prices on screen, while dealers and buyers can negotiate on the scene.

Other features include product information and backoffice administration, covering sales, accounting and reporting.

The company has introduced Trade'ex Distributor, software that allows wholesalers to negotiate and ship orders to customers using Web sites.

Trade'ex said that Merisel, Ingram and Tech Data already use the product. The company offers secure electronic commerce software to protect transactions. It claims 70 vendors and 750 buyers in 58 countries.