Volume is the spice of online auctions
Despite the advantage of lower costs, e-auction has not yet become popular with private firms as, practically, it requires high-volume transaction.
Bangchak Petroleum started electronic procurement in 2005, but so far only 10 per cent of the company's procurement has been done via e-auction, senior vice president Watta- na Opanonamata said yesterday. He said the company was satisfied with the cost-cutting outcome, because e-auction reduced costs 5 to 15 per cent, he said. The problem is that a high volume of procurement is needed, at least Bt1 million or more. Bidders are not interested in smaller volumes of procurement via e-auction, he said, and if the company requires specific properties of products, they hardly ever match products on offer. Tri Kanchanadul is chief executive of Pantavanij, a service-provider for the e-market-place. He said firms in developed countries used e-auction for 90 to 95 per cent of their total procurement, while most firms in Thailand organised e-auctions for less than 50 per cent. Pantavanij yesterday hosted a seminar on good governance and the efficiency of the e-market-place. Tri said Thai firms used only 50 per cent of the software functions in which they had invested a great deal of money. If they used software efficiently, they could cut operating costs, he added.
Wichit Chaitrong The Nation
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