WHO'S GOT THE BEST B2B WEBSITE?

By Nik Dholakia
November 1,2000

Opinions on this topic are of course likely to vary.

NetMarketing Top 200 list for 2000 is one good source of information for this. Since this is from Advertising Age, which is a well-established trade magazine of the advertising industry, we can put some credence into it. Moreover, they describe the methodology employed. It is thus possible to get some feel for the criteria utilized, the type of scoring done, and the judging method employed.

Portals and Exchanges were excluded from this study. The criteria included Navigation, Information Presentation, Information Quality, Interactivity, E-Commerce capabilities, and "Extras." Also, judges could award some discretionary points in addition to these six categories.

The list is at...

http://www.netb2b.com/netMarketing200/2000/index.html

Information Technology (IT) firms that make it in the top 10 list are IBM, RealNetworks, and AT&T. Of course, many of these are not "heavy duty" B2B sites... they have B2C appeal also. For instance, RealNetworks gets high marks because it employs some sexy streaming audio and video. This is fun, but is it very relevant for B2B business?

In the High-Tech Manufacturing segment, the top five are IBM, Cisco, Compaq, Dell, and HP. Sun comes in at No. 6.

In Telecom Services, top-5 are AT&T, WorldCom, Nextel, Sprint, and Cincinnati Bell. No. 6 is Global Crossing.

In the Sofware sector, the top-5 are RealNetworks, Corel, Oracle, Lotus, and McAfee. Microsoft takes up the No. 6 slot.

At RITIM, following the comparative studies of German and American corporate websites as well as conceptual work on "interactivity", we are continuing research on interactivity and web presence effectiveness and welcome the opportunity to examine the information available in the NetMarketing Top 200 study.