Every entrepreneur has a secret wish, a wish he mostly keeps within himself for fear of being ridiculed or laughed at by his peers. That’s the wish that he could become a global player with global customers. Ten years ago this would have been a pipe dream. Today the entrepreneur can smile gently if someone laughs at the notion of a small business tucked away in a small townboasting of becoming a global player.

The way businesses are being done are changing and with the change comes hope for the small town entrepreneur. The growth & penetration of the technology coupled with interesting business models being launched makes it imminently possible for every business owner to actually look at a global customer base for his product or service.

Marketplaces is one such interesting business model that is rapidly emerging in the new improved technology enabled world. The following 10 marketplaces offer extremely high opportunities for globally oriented small business owner.

1. Alibaba.com

Started in 1999 by a group of 18 people headed by Jack Ma, Alibaba is to marketplaces what Amazon is to the eCommerce industry. A giant for the Business to Business category, it has over literally thousands and thousands of small and medium enterprises selling products to various buyers around the world. In 2012, Alibaba recorded transaction sales of over $170 Billion. If you are selling anything from Yarn to hand crafted table cloth, Alibaba should be your first port of call.

2. Indiamart.com

India’s answer to Alibaba, Indiamart is the largest B2B online marketplace in India and perhaps the 2 largest in the world. It reportedly has 60% market share of the B2B space in India. While a lot of suppliers on Alibaba are China based firms, Indiamart has a large India based supplier base. Both however also target the global market.

3. Tradeindia.com

The clear No 2 in India, Trade India boasts of over 2.5 Million registered users for their site. This is another great place to put up your shingle and look for global buyers for your 
product. Between Indiamart and TradeIndia you will have wrapped up the Indian market fully.

 

4. Ec21.com

Another giant from Asia, this time from Korea, ec21 is reported to have over 3 million product listings and over 600,000 enquirers being generated every month. Ec21 is your 4th marketplace that will help you cover Asia fully.

 

 

5. Esources.co.uk

If you’re in the UK or looking at the UK market seriously, you can’t go wrong with esources. UK’s largest B2B product marketplace. It has reportedly 700,000 trade buyers on the marketplace sourcing from it

 

 

6. Bizeurope.com

An Import-Export directory targeted for Europe, Bizeurope is a 6 year old firm out of Netherlands. It has over 50,000 companies registered on the marketplace covering over 58 categories. Bizeurope could be one of your gateways to reach out to the European Union.

 

 

7. Europe.bloombiz.com

Another B2B marketplace out of Europe, Europe.bloombiz , it has over 600,000 registered users , 145,000 posted leads and over 100,000 products listed. They help registered members find trade partners from around Europe as well as around the world. Another great entry point into the European market We can now look at the American market in our 8th marketplace.

 

8. Importers.com

For the North American market, you can’t go wrong with importers.com. As the name itself suggests it’s the B2B site to be in if you’re in the import-export business and want to attract American buyers.

 

9. Mercatrade.com

Meet importers and exporters from Latin America at MercaTrade, with over 65% of their traffic coming from Central and South America. It offers an easy payment plan for both first time and experienced product sellers on their marketplace.

 

 

10. Tradekey.com

From Down Under comes Trade Key, Australia’s answer to the rest of the world. It has over 158,000 members on its marketplaces from Australia!

 

 

A small caveat. The above are not ranked in any particular order, nor are they the complete list of all B2B product focused marketplaces around the world. A simple Google search for the right minded entrepreneur should turn up several more in all parts of the world. The above 10 list is merely a starting point for the globally minded entrepreneur.

Happy Selling! And next time I’ll cover the Services Marketplace for the services minded global entrepreneur and in the meantime please feel free to add your comments and share this for other entrepreneurs.