From the barter desk of Bob Meyer…01/15/08

Why Countertrade Will Continue To Grow

Barter done at its highest level is referred to as countertrade, offsets, counter purchase, and other names. Although the world is getting smaller in some ways, thanks to technology, countertrade is not going to disappear. Quite the contrary.

Countertrade will continue to grow because world trade is growing, and countertrade is an inevitable part of that trade. Because as developing nations become more involved in expanding world commerce, they will need countertrade to offset their lack of hard currency (U.S. dollar or the euro) to fulfill their needs.

Other factors that will effect the use of countertrade are technical knowledge, unemployment, and nationalism which often leads to protectionism.

Is $1 Million “Chump Change?”

According to some thinking, having a million dollars in net worth—including the value of your homes(s) and certain retirement assets—is chump change. Yet having a net worth of $1.4 puts one in the top 5% of Americans, according to the Federal Reserve. Interestingly, studies show that when asked how much it takes to be rich, people always give a number that is twice their current net worth or income.

Creative Thinking Adds Up

Salesbuzz.entrepreneur.com columnist Ray Silverstein gave “barter” a plug in a recent column titled, “Creative Thinking Adds Up.”

60% Of Small Businesses Advertise In Yellow Pages

Local businesses (6 out of 10) stick with old-school yellow pages to get new customers, according to a phone survey from AT&T Advertising & Publishing.

And an independent survey by research firm Kelsey Group finds that 61% of Americans say they turn to the printed yellow-pages listings to find local business information, while 13% say they use search engines.


World’s Third-Largest Advertising Market

The U.S., with its ad agency giants, holds first place in the advertising market, followed by Japan. In third place is China, with the possibility of moving into second place next year. Omnicom Group has recently bought a minority stake in Chinese marketing concern Shunya Communications Group. Omnicom also owns Icon-International, a U.S. corporate barter company located

The column “From The Desk” is the first section of The Tuesday Barter Report, to read the entire report see: TUESDAY

Our blog offers barter articles in 19 different categories, see right-hand column for more information.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 10:34 am and is filed under From the Desk of Bob Meyer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.