"Shall We Buy 10 Tons of Nickel Online?" STX Launches Raw Material Trading Platform

Operation of Trade Transaction Digital Platform Trolligo
"World's First B2B Trading Platform to Resolve Information Asymmetry"

General trading company STX launched a new business-to-business (B2B) online platform for trading raw materials such as nickel and steel on the 22nd. Unlike general consumer goods, online trading of raw materials has not yet been fully activated, but the platform features a system that covers the entire transaction process.

The platform is named ‘TrollyGo.’ The name is derived from “trolley,” a handcart or cart used to move goods, implying the frequent large-scale transactions of raw materials typically measured in tons.

Hong Rajung, Chairman of the STX Board of Directors, is explaining the new raw material trading platform Trolligo at the Press Center on the 22nd.
[Photo by STX]

At a briefing on the day, Hong Rajung, Chairman of the STX Board, said, "Many people considered traditional raw material and industrial goods transactions to be heavy, difficult, and complicated. We aimed to implement the transactions that were previously done offline into an online, digital environment." He emphasized that although there are online platforms handling some raw materials such as steel products, this is the first time various products have been gathered together in one place.

The platform’s basic role is to connect buyers and sellers. It covers a wide range of industrial goods including energy, steel, metals, chemical products, industrial machinery, and defense. It also provides real-time market information on various raw materials. For those who need to quickly dispose of inventory for reasons such as stock management, there is an auction (bidding) function.

The first screen of STX's raw material trading platform, Trolligo. It prioritizes the function to search various products and allows searching raw material market information and auctions. Starting next month, a Google Translate feature will be added, making it easy to browse from around the world.
[Photo by STX]

STX has been preparing this business for five years. Sales department staff responsible for each trade item participated from the planning stage to discuss the process of converting offline transactions into online ones. Chairman Hong said, "In traditional general trading company transactions, it is necessary to reflect the tendencies of buyers and sellers, and face-to-face transactions are the norm. Prices of traded goods change frequently, so many considered it difficult." He added, "With the experience of COVID-19, non-face-to-face transactions increased, and we reorganized overall to be able to launch this platform."

While online transactions have become mainstream for general consumer goods, the raw materials and industrial goods sectors, which mainly involve B2B transactions, are still not very active. This is because client information and sales prices are considered trade secrets, and exposure could affect company management. Payment methods are also cited as an obstacle.

Aluminum bars from a factory in China
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The newly launched TrollyGo automatically generates contracts and invoices. It also has a feature that allows individual consultations between sellers and buyers to keep transaction details and prices confidential. Since international transactions are frequent and intermediaries are often involved, resulting in high fees and transaction costs, the company expects this platform to reduce such costs.

Regarding criticism that the business model can be easily replicated by other companies, Chairman Hong said, "Existing similar platforms mainly handled single products and targeted the domestic market." He added, "We have a variety of products and a global network." He also stated, "There are many criticisms that the raw materials market is opaque and transaction costs are high, but digitalization is necessary to make the market transparent through competition among various platforms." He concluded that having more competing businesses is better.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.