Suppliers Directories and equal opportunities of sellers of goods. How buyers do find suppliers.
Customers do look for the best supplier. They make a choice based on value judgements that vary from rational considerations to just plane feelings. Supplier information must be available to the customers. One way of advertizing are supplier directories. In a suppliers directory the sellers of various goods can be found. Buyers can find suppliers and compare the different sellers of a specific group of products. Based on this a choice can be made. This information elevates the market a bit, since there are still possible other suppliers that haven't been listed in the specific directory or any directoryat all . The price of directory listings can of course function as a barrier to entry, because those who do not want to spent money for the service do not get entered into a paid supplier directory.
Directories need to be found by the groups of specific clients for the types of suppliers listed in them. This means that a directory needs to compete on the information market as well. The internet can work as a bridging function here, since many providers of directories can use the internet to offer there services. Here suppliers directories can cater for certain niches and hence market segments on the internet.