Houston September 4, 2001 The chemical industry got a new outpost on the Web today with the launch of ChemXL, an e-commerce site that its founders said will offer an inexpensive online channel for buying and selling chemicals.
The self-described "no-frills site" said it targets companies that want access to online resources to sell or procure chemicals, but don't want to pay membership fees, constantly monitor exchange bidding activity or develop and build their own back-end private exchange capabilities.
Vijay Goradia, the company's chairman and acting CEO, said that earlier B2B business models made the mistake of trying to be intermediaries separating and standing between buyers and sellers. ChemXL will allow companies to use the Internet as an "online business meeting tool," he said, allowing them to take advantage of e-commerce efficiencies while preserving existing procurement and sales relationships and processes.
"ChemXL is designed to complement the way people do business today," Goradia said. "People can meet online, communicate back and forth in complete confidentiality, complete a transaction quickly and log off."
Goradia asserted that all parties to a transaction can save time, and therefore money, by reducing the amount of time traditionally spent communicating and negotiating offline with multiple buyers or sellers.
ChemXL said it will also develop, host and manage branded private exchanges for chemical manufacturers and distributors that want an online e-marketing presence but don't want to build their own e-commerce capabilities.
ChemXL is a privately funded e-business venture. Notably, its founding board of directors includes Rusty Braziel, e-marketplace pioneer and former chairman of online power exchange Altra Energy Technologies.
