Reseller rushes ecommerce scheme to market
A Twickenham-based VAR is set to become one of the first UK resellers to launch an application service provider scheme.
A Twickenham-based VAR is set to become one of the first UK resellers to launch an application service provider (ASP) scheme.
Five Nines Commerce, a subsidiary of IBM reseller Platinum Blue, was scheduled to launch its website hosting service at the E-Commerce Expo in Birmingham yesterday [28 March].
The service uses proprietary software called Easecommerce. Platinum Blue claimed it will allow SMEs to trade online in less than 30 minutes and offer 99.999 per cent availability.
Users of the service will have a choice of 36 standard templates or will be able to contract Five Nines or another reseller to customise their layout.
Hosting for a customer with up to 10 products and no credit card facilities will be free. Credit card facilities will cost £30 per month plus two per cent commission for every transaction. It will cost £1,000 to hold an unlimited number of products on the site or 50p per product for between 10 and 1,000 items.
Five Nines has already signed up Casio and Fire Protection Services to its hosting service and said it is in discussions with other prospective customers.
Paul Phillips, managing director of Platinum Blue, said the reseller decided to launch an ASP service because of its cost-effectiveness. He defended the massive capital outlay involved, saying that projections showed the company will be profitable within a year. It aims to have more than 770 fee-paying customers by December 2000, 3,410 by December 2001 and 6,050 by December 2002.
Phillips also denied that it was too big an undertaking for a small company.
He said there was plenty of customer demand and that Five Nines' service was simple and inexpensive, as well as being among the first to market.
He added Five Nines was interested in recruiting other VARs and partners such as web designers to its service. VARs will make money by customising customers' sites and providing other services.