Sourcing Guide at hkenterprise.com has been making life easier and a lot more profitable for buyers since 1996, when the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) first realised the immense potential of online sourcing.

The hkenterprise.com formula of offering specific marketing, sourcing and partnering services at the TDC's award-winning tdctrade.com portal currently draws an average of two million hits a day.

A new and exciting dimension allows visitors to search for potential suppliers in the whole of the Greater China region as well as Hong Kong. "The look and feel is the same as the former hkenterprise.com, but buyers can now browse by regions," explains TDC head of publications and e-commerce Clare Wong.

The navigation bar allows a buyer looking for toys, for example, to search for toy makers by market - Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, Taiwan or Macau - or by region.

Type in a product name or keyword and a list of Greater China suppliers and their details will appear on-screen. "We have more than 3,000 categories to cover all products," adds Wong.

She says Sourcing Guide, which is a key component of tdctrade.com, is convenient, can be accessed whenever and wherever the buyer is online and is also efficient, as just one click provides access to banks of information.

"It is very cost-effective as buyers enjoy free access once they have registered online," Wong adds. "Sourcing Guide also features popular specialties like enquiry baskets, a message centre, new product alerts and recommended categories."

This user-friendly approach saw tdctrade.com recognised by ACNeilsen as The Best Trade Promotion Portal In Asia in May 2003 and win CMP Asia's fourth Annual Intelligent20 Awards in November that year. "tdctrade.com also won a Standard of Excellence Web Award from the Web Marketing Association of the US in 2002, 2003 and 2004," Wong notes.

Most visitors to hkenterprise.com are from Asia (31%), followed by Europe (27%) and the US (30%), with the rest split between the Middle East, Central and South America, Australia and Africa. "Just over 26% of visitors are importers, 16% are manufacturers and nearly 18% are wholesalers/retailers," Wong observes.

One of the keen advantages of hkenterprise.com is its pricing: it costs US$3,800-5,000 a year to advertise on the website. "For small and medium-sized enterprises and overseas buyers, hkenterprise.com offers large exposure at a very competitive price compared with similar websites," Wong points out.

WRITTEN BY JAMES PALMER