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RealDirect.com to bring discounted imports to USA consumers |
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RealDirect.com is a proposed new site that will sell discounted sporting and other consumer products direct from international manufacturers. The site's founders expect they will be able to undercut exiting online retail prices by offering products at wholesale prices over the Web. The new site, created by Jen Jen International, Ltd., of Tyngsboro, Mass., an international trading company, is being designed and hosted by AppliedTheory and E-Media Publishing. RealDirect.com will be launched in January 2001. The site is intended to be an e-commerce portal through which Asian and other international manufacturers can sell their products directly to consumers, and at manufacturer-direct prices. Currently, many international manufacturers sell exclusively to established distributors and retailers, who add their mark-ups to the products. According to the company, manufacturers selling direct through RealDirect.com will be able to eliminate these mark-ups. [Other than RealDirect's of course - doesn't that make them just another retailer? Ed.] AppliedTheory and E-Media Publishing will collaborate on the development of the site, with E-Media Publishing managing the site's architecture and user interface and AppliedTheory providing the hosting and back-end database management. "We are going to be selling thousands of items produced by hundreds of manufacturers, and we'll be shipping into and out of a global network of distribution warehouses,'' said Jen Jen International's CEO, Jack Curley. When it launches, RealDirect.com is expected to sell a wide variety of sporting goods, including bicycles, exercise equipment, outdoor sporting gear, and equipment for team sports, golf, hiking, hunting, fishing and camping. Later, it will sell other consumer items, including tools and jewelry. For all products, the company expects to sell directly from international manufacturers, who will receive payment only when their products are sold. By not incurring inventory costs, RealDirect.com expects to be able to sell the products at prices well below those charged by established retailers. This business model seems similar to that of many other pure-play eRetailers that started out without holding inventory. Many of these companies have since abandoned this strategy it in favor of managing the fulfillment process as part of quality customer service. The model proposed would also imply potential delays in delivering the product to consumers if it is coming direct from manufacturers' warehouses, which are designed for picking and shipping in palette or case quantities. It remains to be seen if Jen International can make this a more profitable business model by utilizing their experience as a trading company. 08/03/00 SOURCE: AppliedTheory |
Updated: 17 Feb 2006 .
