Developments and Development Directions of Electronic Trade Platforms in US and European Agri-Food Markets: Impact on Sector Organization

Continuin

Platforms
agri-food
2002 (36)

Platforms
agri-food
2000 (85)

85

Changed

Acquired by other agri-
food platform (3)

Software provider (10)

Portal (8)

Products other than

agri-food (1)

I Disappeared

New agri-food
platforms,
start between
2000 and 2002 (18)

Out of business (45)

Figure 3: Tendencies in the Platform Market Between 2000 and 2002

Mergers Between Platforms

In the US, several mergers between agri-food platforms have occurred. As far as one
can conclude from the outset, interests of platform enterprises in competitors could
be linked to specific interest in their customer base and / or platform technology. As
an example, Farms.com, a U.S.-based platform for agricultural commodities,
merged with the Canadian platform eHarvest.com, involved in piglet trading, and
the platform CyberCrop.com, involved in grain trading, to reach their customers.
The platform Dairy.com, on the other hand, merged with Inc2inc for access to their
advanced trading and exchanging technology.

Change ofBusiness Model to other than Platform

A major development alternative for platforms involves a reorientation of their
business model to an activity other than trade platform. Principal alternatives
involved the transformation into software development or the organization of
information portals for the agri-food sector. In software development, companies

© 2004 International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IAMA). All rights reserved.