The Seam Opens B2B Exchange

February 9, 2001

Cotton's online marketplace, The Seam, announced today that its business-to-business (B2B) exchange is open. Cotton businesses anonymously traded more than 5,000 bales on the first trading day. More than 80,000 bales of cotton were listed on the system during the first session. To date, more than 12,000 bales have been traded on listings of more than 115,000 bales.

The Seam added the B2B service to its site after the launch of its grower-to-business (G2B) exchange in early December.. The B2B exchange has traded more than 125,000 bales since it went online. Cotton growers participating in the B2B exchange can list their cotton in a firm offer method and entertain offers by cotton buyers.

"Having cotton offered from the Delta, Southeast, Southwest, and the West online gives us a comparison that we have never been able to make before," according to Lonnie Winters of Plains Cotton Cooperative Association in Lubbock, TX. Winters and other marketing staff at the farmer-owned marketing cooperative use the B2B system to sell cotton from the members' marketing pools.

The Seam's B2B site focuses on providing another opportunity for businesses to buy and sell cotton. "This expanded service is needed in the cotton industry" explained Louis Baioni, CEO of The Seam. "Cotton businesses, such as merchants and textile mills, will have more flexibility in sales and procurement activities than ever before."

For example, a cotton merchandising firm may have excess inventory for sale but no buyers through its traditional customer base. The Seam's B2B site allows the merchant to anonymously list that cotton for sale online. Then, the bales are available to be bid on, auction-style, by a nationwide network of cotton businesses. Merchants and textile mills can procure cotton to meet specific manufacturing requirements through The Seam's search filters.

According to Forrester Research, 93% of firms expect some of their business trade to flow over the Net in 2002. Forrester also estimates that up to $1.4 trillion will flow through online markets in 2004. Cotton and textiles are expected to follow online market trends. expanded exposure to potential customers and suppliers, constant access to real-time market information, and guaranteed trades.