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Asian Sources Media Group: E-Commerce Blossoms in Asia

There is strength in numbers, as the saying goes. It's an old adage that is gaining new meaning in the realm of electronic commerce. Many of today's successful Internet retail and trade solutions are based around communities of commerce--clusters of buyers, sellers, and intermediaries in vertical markets cooperating to simplify and accelerate the sale of goods and services online.

One of the best examples of this trend is Asian Sources Media Group (ASM), an electronic-commerce service provider based in Hong Kong. What began 26 years ago with a single magazine intended to help American and European buyers source products from Asia has blossomed into a large-scale publishing enterprise that has hit the ground running in one of the Far East's most ambitious electronic-commerce ventures.

One of the ASM Group's divisions is Asian Sources On-Line (www.asiansources.com), which already hosts more than 7,000 customer Web sites offering some 36,000 products to volume buyers. Asian Sources On-Line has established itself as the center of Asian trade on the Web for large-scale importers in America, Europe, and Asia and legions of manufacturers and suppliers. It went into operation in 1995 and has quickly grown to become one of the largest electronic-commerce hosts in the world.

Another division, ASM eTrade, tackles the operational issues faced by international trade companies by providing a comprehensive trade-management system. ASM's eTrade software, built with Oracle Developer/2000 and Oracle Web Application Server, is a comprehensive trade-management system that integrates order processing, sourcing, and electronic data interchange (EDI) capabilities to link all of the steps in the trading process.

The order-processing component of the software includes support of multiple currencies, turnaround document-generation report and analysis functionality, and easy task tracking for greater control of the process. EDI capabilities allow for electronic order processing and documentation between suppliers and trading partners worldwide.

Committed to Commerce

ASM considered a variety of database management systems and tools for Web development before selecting Oracle. The company chose products from Oracle not only because Oracle had the technology it wanted but also because of Oracle's commitment to electronic commerce. "Oracle took networking and Internet access as seriously as we did," says Theresa Yiu, managing director of ASM eTrade. "We were able to share our concerns over business issues such as time-to-market."

Basing its technology on Oracle has also had a secondary benefit for ASM: The Oracle system is a strong calling card with blue-chip customers such as Dunlop-Slazenger International, Liz Claiborne International Limited, and Reebok Trading Limited. "By using Oracle, we were able to interest high-end business clients," says Yiu. "They recognized the scale of what we were doing and took us seriously."

ASM's first forays into electronic commerce began nearly ten years ago with an EDI strategy. In 1990, ASM launched the first version of its EDI software, TMS Exporter, on a DOS platform. In 1995, the company moved the system to Oracle Developer/2000, Microsoft Windows 3.1, and an Oracle database.

"There were many challenges to overcome, but progress has been steady and there is much that will improve as we gain more experience," notes Michael Friedman, senior consultant for Corporate Research and Development at ASM eTrade.

One of the biggest challenges concerns a dearth of technical expertise in many Asian sectors. "We are selling products to industrial companies in less technically sophisticated areas of the world." Friedman says. "Some of our customers have never used a computer for more than word processing. Managing a database and a LAN is quite a challenge for them."

Friedman is now using the Web-enabled version of Developer/2000 to create a simplified EDI interface that allows even the smallest companies to take part in ASM eTrade's system. Customers are responsible for the Web client, while ASM eTrade manages the application server and Oracle database.

"The Web-enabled Developer/2000 is designed for relatively low-speed Internet environments, unlike client/ server systems, which are mostly designed for LANs," Friedman says. "This is critical for companies doing real EC with external business partners. It lets the external partner avoid time-consuming and risky activities such as installation, database management, and backup and recovery."

Friedman is also exploring network computers (NCs) as a low-cost alternative for bringing more Chinese businesses online. What's the incentive for pouring all this energy into an emerging market? The soft and silent sound of e-cash streaming in. It is difficult to trace how many orders have been generated from the Web, Yiu says, but direct inquiries on Asian Sources On-Line have doubled every three months in the past year and are currently running at close to 10,000 per week. ASM expects to generate revenues of more than $6 million from its Web business this year.

"The ASM Group's goal is to have 50,000 products and 10,000 Web sites by the end of the year," Yiu concludes. "We see nothing but growth for the future."