High-Speed Steel Sales
Major Steel Mills and value-added resellers are about to have an independent online trading forum available to them with e-steel (www.e-steel.com), a Web site scheduled for launch next month.
To conduct business on the site, buyers and sellers must first designate partners they want to work with and technical specifications of the products they want to buy or sell, says e-steel marketing and communications vice president Deborah Katzenellenbogen.
“They can then view a range of options and negotiate the terms of a sale,” she adds.
The site was the brainchild of company chairman Michael Levin, who spent 30 years on the marketing side of the steel industry. He observed that transactions were carried out mostly through costly phone calls and faxes.
“A couple of years ago he thought there might be a better way to do this using satellite technology, but there wasn’t,” Katzenellenbogen says.
The company is planning an aggressive direct mail campaign, and will place direct response space ads in steel-related trade magazines.
How will e-steel make money? By charging a commission of less than 10% per transaction. With quantities in the hundreds to thousands of tons, this figure should hit at least $500 per transaction, she notes.
In addition, the company- which makes a point of not being affiliated with any mills or service centers-is putting all prospective buyers and sellers through an extensive credit check before allowing them to use its system.
At the same time, e-steel disclaims any responsibility for the ways mills using the site might conduct business.
The site will be active 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will be accessible worldwide, especially in Asian and Latin American countries where much of the world’s steel manufacturing capacity resides.
Later this year, e-steel plans to include features on the site like market news, forums with industry leaders, trade reports and stock information.
Computer Sciences Corp. is helping e-steel develop its site.
“We have made the process of buying and selling steel easier for all buyers and sellers,” says e-steel president Nathan Leight. “E-steel allows buyers and sellers to maintain their existing business relationships while realizing a new world of possibilities.”
