The Move From MarketPLACE to MarketSPACE

Another day…another buzz word! When giant retailers like Walmart, the largest grocery retailer in the U.S who became very successful and popular for owning and operating a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores decide to also run an online e-commerce website to sell their products, you know that they understand the importance and potential of being in the Marketspace as well as dominating in the Marketplace. I often come in contact with small and medium businesses who sell products ( own a physical store ) and do not also run an e-commerce website to list and sell the same products in their brick and mortar store on the internet. Their excuses for not doing so is always in the lines of “Our customers come to the store to buy the products and we do not really see the importance of having an online store”  and sometimes I get the “Ermmmm! Having an e-commerce website is expensive”. Sorry to burst your bubbles, Its  not! its actually a cost-effective way to place your product in the front of millions of potential buyers or hundreds and thousands within your locality. In this post, I intend to highlight some of the unique features of E-commerce and why you should have a website to sell your products. Ubiquity The internet is now available to more people now more than ever. People can now browse for products and goods from their homes, workplace, school, church , anywhere…anytime! This has led to enhanced customer convenience and reduced shopping costs for the customers. Although the internet has numerous advantages, one of its “disadvantage” is its influence on people ; people are now more lazy now more than ever, they want to browse and buy things all from their phone now. Use this to your advantage – place your products online! Global Reach Do you know a city or country without borders? I doubt you do. The internet doesn’t have borders or walls, it serves everyone…everywhere, meaning your product can reach across national boundaries around the earth without any limitation ( oh, don’t forget you would need to comply to laws in some Jurisdictions…but am sure you get the gist). The MarketSpace includes billions of potential buyers and customers ready to be served by your business. Place your products online! Richness An obvious excuse for not having an e-commerce store would be “The customers can come in, see the product, feel the product and buy it” . Funny enough, the internet also offers the same features. Although your customers may not be able to “feel” your product, but with the use of video, audio, and text, your customers get the same experience on the internet as they would in your “physical store”. You are able to create a rich customer experience for your potential customers while they are in their pyjamas. Social technology Its no news that customers are now “social” and by social I do not only mean that they now have a facebook, snapchat or twitter account – I mean they are now engaged in “user generated contents” which is the foundation of social media. There is no better time than now to place your products online, customers are eager to write reviews on products they have purchased and also help others choose good products from bad ones by “word of finger” ( a word I coined which means – recommendations on the internet, or Internet Word Of Mouth) Like I stated in the earlier part of this post, getting your e-coomerce website setup can be a cost effective way to place your product infront of potential ready-to-buy customers. I hope the few key benefits listed above helps you understand why and how your sales can double if you also sell online rather than relying on just your offline endeavors. [ad name=”HTML”]