ALEXANDRIA, VA (May 23, 2003) – Pressured to reduce expenses in the current soft economy, print buyers are turning to reverse auctions and insisting that their print providers participate. Unlike traditional auctions, prices start high and move downward via real-time Internet bidding. To assist print providers, a new study offers insight, tactics, and checklists for creating a pro-active strategy to deal with this growing e-procurement trend. Published by the E-Business Council (EBC), a premier program of Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) and Printing Industries of America (PIA), Inc., Strategies for Reverse Auction Survival advises printing companies to identify their goals, select their auction team, and identify their strategies prior to participating in a reverse auction. "The bottom-line is that if you have any customers within the Fortune 2000 or you do work for local or regional offices of a large company, your chances are one-in-four that your customers will be using reverse auctions in 2003. By 2005, even the large local customers will consider it," says J.K. Stoddard, an associate at Raine Consulting Inc. and the study’s author. In the study, Ms. Stoddard presents overall trends in online trade, as well as the technology and processes behind reverse auctions. Readers will also learn about the mind-set and perspective of this type of print buyer and what benefits they anticipate receiving. Describing the competition, the study profiles printers who have participated in reverse auctions and their perspectives. The study also guides readers through specific strategies and tactics, and it provides checklists for mapping out an auction-action plan. A summary of the report is posted on the EBC web pages on GAIN. The complete study, a 32-page booklet, will be available for purchase as of June 1, 2003, for $50 for GATF/PIA and $150 for non-members. All EBC members receive the study as part of their membership. Orders may be placed by contacting the EBC staff at 800/742-2666 or online from the GAIN Bookstore. In addition, Ms. Stoddard will present the seminar The Threat of Reverse Auction at Graph Expo in Chicago in late September. For more information, please contact Joanne Vinyard (Director, E-Business Council) at PIA by phoning 800/742-2666.