Espírito Santos is situated northeast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Espírito Santos is known as a major ginger farming region, producing 85% of Brazil's ginger. With remarkably high fibers, it is one of the most popular products in major ginger importers.
A buyer of Brazilian ginger typically goes through four different intermediaries: traders, exporters, shipping forwarders, and importers. Traders, based in Brazil, travel around the lush farms of farms in the Espírito Santos region, sort ginger by grade, and sell them to other wholesales. Exporters, also based in Brazil, are responsible for buying these ginger from traders, find foreign partners, and clear customs. At the next level are shipping forwarders, who are responsible for finding container ships that will take the ginger from Brazil to Israel. Lastly, importers based in Israel receive the shipment, sort out customs and paperwork on behalf of the customers, and release the goods to the buyer.
But now, the same customer can buy Brazilian ginger by only dealing with Tridge, via its online platform from the comforts of their workstation. Tridge takes over the responsibilities and the cumbersome tasks of these four intermediaries, passing on competitive prices to the customers.
This is done through the hard work of Tridge's global engagement managers. They go directly to orchards and farms to buy the ginger and work with trusted logistics partners to fulfill the ginger shipment to the Israeli buyer. Tridge facilitates transactions only for "verified" suppliers & buyers to ensure quality and secure transactions.
Both buyers and farmers have been discontent with the significant cuts – up to 40% – taken by middlemen and the lack of alternatives to go beyond their traditional relationships. These cuts have been significant and hindered trade, especially when the market was tight.
Tridge provided the much-needed alternative for the importer. For example, Israeli buyer since last year have started to pay on average 25% less than before. Tridge similarly benefited the Brazilian suppliers who said, "We were furious that too many intermediaries were taking up margin for just being there, and sometimes they pay 30 days after their shipment has arrived." Both parties see the benefit of Tridge, as they came back for subsequent deals that were larger.
Tridge managed to build trust in the relationships, with buyers coming back for more new deals. Tridge has managed $2.6mm of ginger traders in Israel, about 15% of Israel's total ginger import (as of 09/2021). Buyers also try different products. For example Israeli buyer recently replaced their Chinese ginger import to Thai ginger via Tridge after discovering the latter's competitive prices.
The impact of Tridge in shortening the supply chain can also be observed in a number of markets: Chilean Cherry, Peruvian Grape, Indian Onion, Guatemalan Cardamom, and Australian Orange. Instead of paying intermediaries to facilitate B2B trade, many firms on both sides of the trade started to deal directly with one another via the Tridge platform, replacing dozens of phone calls, e-mails, and other documentation.
The trading process has also become faster and more transparent as it moves online. In the past, placing new contracts would often involve weeks of haggling and many meetings between two parties. Predictably, many such negotiations became somewhat adversarial. At other times, the relationship was too cozy, with backhanders offered to clinch an order. The B2B side of the online business avoids such excesses. After a difficult start, the business model is now expanding rapidly.
With its vast networks of offices worldwide, Tridge believes that in the modern era power of digitalization can improve supply chains to be more efficient, ultimately giving more benefits to the farmers at the one end and buyers at the other.
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