hi, i was going through some wuestions, but got stuck here. suppose i have digital venuture of online eshop? my question is? q) asses how your products, services approach do or dont appeal to those grops whi cannot take advantage of your digital offerings? hard to answer right?
No one can cater to every single market or customer base. You just do what you are good at and target the relevant market. Leave those markets which you cannot meet their needs to someone else. Like they say, Jack of All trades, Master of None. Basically, the fear is that when you try to cater for a broad-base market, you be over-stretching yourself too thinner and you will crash sooner or later. When I encounter customers who I know cannot benefit from what I offer, I will refer them to others who can. This will built up goodwill with these customers because who knows, in the future, they may come back to you if they need something you can meet.
you are right. but can yo please tell m what group of people they will be? i mean what would be the reason that they cannot take ofefrings of my business? can you mention two points... it wud be a great help thnks n regards
Well, I cannot answer that question because I do not know what business you are going into. But assuming that based on your nickname 'Dracula' here, I will assume that you are offering dracula-related e-books and costumes and accessories. If that is so then your main target audience will be people who have some kind of dracula-related fantasy, witches and may cater for the halloween seasons. Your website would inevitably not cater for the religious crowd as what you offer may be againsts their religions and people who are looking for web hosting services may not need your services for which you cannot cater to. But generally speaking, if your products and services are in English, they may not say be relevant to someone who can only understand Russian. Sometimes if you deal with cross-border trade, the currency exchange and shipping costs may be prohibitive to some. For example, in some countries, US$1 can probably feed a family for a day but in the US, US$1 probably may not be able to fill someone's stomach for one meal.
No offense but really hard to read it and understand what you meant so I should say congrats Eddy for replying and good luck with your business Dracula
well many thanks for the answer. my business is selling coputer peripherals. just thinking of still who cannot take my dgital offerings?
If you are offering Computer Peripherals then it probably cater to people who needs them. If you are catering to your local market then it should be priced lower (inclusive of your shipping cost) than what other retail stores around the customers are selling for OR the items that you offer must be unique that no one else have them but need them very much. If you are selling outside of your country then for someone who wants to buy from you, must first trust you, find that what you are offering are cheaper than what they can get locally. Some peripherals are big and sometimes the shipping cost can add up to quite a substantial amount. I am from Singapore and was shopping for a digital camera, I saw that it was priced $100 less in the US compared to my country but when I added the shipping cost, lack of warranty and the local tax, the cost saving did not seems attractive anymore. So I ended up just buying from my local stores. I am not sure what country you are from but I understand from dealing on the internet that not everyone have internet access or a credit card, also there are people who rather buy items which they can touch and feel and take off from the store rather than to buy online because what appears online may not be what is being shipped. I guess in short, here are a few things to consider :- 1) Your Reputation (Because your customers do not meet you, they need to trust you because what if they pay you and you do not deliver) 2) General Resistance to do online trade (I know that the US is more open to the idea of online shopping but it is not something which is taking off in Asia and other parts of the world) 3) Cost (Your prices inclusive of shipping cost should generally have to be lower than what they can get in their local stores remembering that at most times, they may not enjoy the same warranty as if they bought from a local store) 4) Currency Exchanges (At certain places, cost of living may be lower and they may not be able to afford what you are offering and also in some countries, sending money can be a difficult issue).
thanks a lot..........eddy i really appreciate that...actually iam doing a survey that makes me to answer these questions. thought like sharing your views thanks. im still left with two questions..? i shd tel you that as iam really getting great help from you.. identify a wort case scenario , identifying those conditions that will make your digital venture redundant or problematic? and create a best case scenario in which you address technological developments are underway, or ones which you antcipate may be developed? can u give me some hint that i can use for my research.. thnks, Mick
Well, if you are asking just for the sake of research then I would say, look at http://www.provantage.com , they are a huge online store for computer peripherials, software or anything digital but they do not stock every single item that they sell. That's the good part of being online. The Best Case Scenario would be like what provantage do. They established good working relationships with a wide variety of suppliers and manufacturers which offers them the best pricing which they offer to their customers. They only stock fast moving items in their warehouse and for other new, fast changing products, they would not stock but just be a sales agent. This way, they would cut down on not only just warehousing cost but the risk of having to write-off outdated or unsellable products. They are in a way just an agent and when a customer buys an item, they will raise a PO to their supplier who would either ship directly to their customers or send the product to Provantage who would then ship the item. In a fast pace market like IT products, that is the only way to go. Worst case would be for a company who only caters for one product group or support only a small range of vendors. Although buying in bulk may give you economies of scale, it may mean that stocking the wrong product may mean having to do a huge write-off. It is always relevant to continually track buyers' buying pattern and stay relevant to current market trends.