- 1 - The Lifecycle of B2B Portals: We are at the Second Stage Mario Caputi, Sept 2000 © 2001 Sixhills Consulting Ltd & Author The Lifecycle of B2B Portals: We are at the Second Stage The supply chain of each industry integrates physical, information and payment activities. So far, these activities have been managed by any sort of middlemen. The Internet revolution allows the deconstruction of each supply chain into three basic flows: the physical, the information and the payment flow. The internet based deconstruction of each supply chain discloses a window of opportunity for B2B Portals to separate and optimise these three flows since 1) middlemen are now obsolete and costly given that portals help reduce T-taxes from 30% to 3-8% and 2) portals can now better control their key data viz. volumes of goods and services purchased, customer information, price transparency, hour to hour updates etc. We take a look at 2 stages in the development and evolution of B2B Portals: Page 22Proprietary and Confidential6831_IMP02CurrentSupply ChainDeconstructedSupply ChainPhysical Flow Information Flow (sales, unsolds)Payment Flow (DD, cheque, cash)Set draw size for each retailerBreak bulk, re-pack into retailer bundlesLoad onto delivery vans (own fleet or load contractor)Deliver retailersCollect unsold reports and reconcileAudit retailer returnsCollect and remit retailer paymentsBreak bulk, re-pack into bundlesLoad onto delivery vansDeliver retailersSet draw size for each retailerEnter S&R into databaseAudit retailer returnsCollect unsold reports and reconcileCollect & remit paymentsReconcile invoices with retailer claimsProduce InvoicesDeconstructed Value ChainManufacturer End customer
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