Biolab turns off online market

By ADAM GIFFORD

Biolab Scientific has pulled the plug on its multimillion online market, Onezone, at a cost of 12 jobs.

Onezone was set up to help Australasian buyers whose main activity is scientific research and the suppliers who wish to meet their needs.

Group chief executive Bruce McKinnon said the site had attracted users more slowly than expected, and had not met "significant" initial targets.

He refused to comment on market suggestions that the site was handling about $20,000 a day in transactions, which would have meant Onezone's commission would have been in the low hundreds of dollars.

"The sad thing is this was quite successful in terms of being a customer-focused marketplace, but it's a matter of timing. The solution was functionally good, but there wasn't the desperate need on the buyer side to make it work."

New Zealand customers had been quick to adopt Onezone, but Australians had been much slower. Customers included universities, crown research institutes, and medical laboratories who use Biolab's laboratory equipment.

Suppliers included courier firms, other drug and laboratory supply companies, office supply companies, and liquor and uniform suppliers.

Biolab scientific will continue to supply customers through its Biolab Direct portal (www.biolab.co.nz).

Mr McKinnon said Biolab did about 15 per cent of its $140 million turnover electronically, mostly through Biolab Direct. "What we will do now is build up that operation using the knowledge we have learned from Onezone."

He said the Onezone operation was available for sale.

Onezone is built around technology from United States company Ariba, for which Biolab owns a licence.

Biolab partnered with Arthur Andersen, Telecom Advanced Solutions and eSolutions to build it.

"The software is configured and is operating on a standalone server.

"We have the relationships with suppliers, the supplier databases and integration with their back-end systems, so there are a lot of things of value in there," he said.

Mr McKinnon refused to say how much Onezone had cost Biolab, which is owned by a Malaysian investment group.

In February, Onezone chief executive Catherine Calarco said the project was costing Biolab $10 million, and a $150 million transactions turnover was forecast within a year.

Onezone