With 1,040 registered users, including 400 online customers, 10,000 visitors a week and USD 144m online sales in 2000; the GE Polymerland website ( www.gepolymerland.com) is by far the largest e-commerce plastics platform in Europe. For 2001, Charles E. Crew, vice president for commercial operations at GE Plastics Europe (NL-4600 AC Bergen op Zoom; www.geplastics.com), said the engineering plastics “offensive player” has set ambitious e-business targets. In Europe alone, the number of registered website users is to rise to 4,000, the number of online customers to 1,500 and the number of visitors per week to 70,000. At the same time, GE expects European electronic sales of more than EUR 600m.

Worldwide, the US-based group expects online sales of plastics worth more than USD 1 bn out of total sales of USD 7 bn, including USD 5.8 bn in products manufactured by GE (the rest of sales is with products made by companies such as Rhodia or Borealis). With plastics thus accounting for around 15% of online sales, there seems little doubt that the group is ahead here, too.

For GE Polymerland, taking orders via the internet simplifies business transactions. Prices are fixed, special conditions have to be negotiated in the usual way. Customers can specify desired shipment dates, but if supplies are tight, personal negotiations, again, are necessary. The websites of both GE Polymerland and GE Plastics have an integrated, interactive call-back function that enables customers to ask for telephone help.

To be able to react more quickly to customer wishes throughout Europe, GE Plastics not only has extended the possibilities for ordering via the internet but is providing support through additional marketing outlets. Over the next several weeks, the group plans to open new distribution centres in Italy and Spain to complement existing facilities in the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey. GE´s goal, in principle, is to be able to supply every plastics converter in Europe within 24 hours.