Ankit Ajmera
Media

<FONT COLOR="#FF0033"><B>IAMAI e-Business Summit 2006:</B></FONT> Leveraging e-commerce

The session focussed on the need for offline businesses to adapt to the online advantages of e-commerce. The speakers were Cory York, business development manager, Novator India; Gautam Thakar, country manager, e-Bay India; and Vishal Anand, founder and chief executive officer, Mahamaza.com

With the Internet increasingly becoming a medium of high interactivity for buyers and sellers, the second session of the IAMAI e-Business Summit 2006 focussed on leveraging the advantages of e-commerce for large and small companies. Although most companies have been found to do well in the offline scenario, when it comes to doing business online, they are still learning to utilise the benefits of e-commerce to the fullest.

Emphasising on choosing the right online retailing partner, Cory York, business development manager, Novator India, talked about how companies can use this fact in leveraging their business with customers. He talked of some challenges that companies face while trying to do business online. According to him, it’s very important to develop an online platform that can be continuously upgraded with new software and new features. Then comes arranging the resources and maintaining the marketing and merchandising for the company. Getting traffic to the site and converting them to buyers, conducting enough activity on online product placements and promotions and having an appropriate site design are some of the other challenges that affect the profit-making capacity in e-commerce.

He said that once they are through with the challenges, choosing the right e-commerce partner can save companies a lot of time and money as there is no investment in hardware, hosting and monitoring facilities and very little investment in human resources.

The right online partner can be chosen on the basis of theonline sales a business generates on a regular basis. It should have a strong trackrecord and be able to provide consulting on merchandisingand marketing. He gave the example of Interflora, an online flower sellingcompany, which is a client of Novator. Novator helped to redesign itswebsite, which eventually helped in doubling its user conversion rate.

Gautam Thakar, country manager, e-Bay India, cited how the online marketplace can create opportunities for small-time entrepreneurs. He said that online, small-time businessmen enjoy the same opportunities in selling their goods as big companies. Geographical factors and the location of the company always play a crucial role in deciding the point of purchase. But when it comes to e-commerce, all sellers have the opportunity to display their goods to customers at the best price.

He explained that the online marketplace provides a level playing field for all sellers by granting them low cost of entry. As it is not affected by geographical factors, the sellers can reach out to a global audience even from a remote location.

Thakar gave the example of a small-time furniture manufacturer in a remote location such as Jodhpur, who is now earning a living by selling his goods to global customers on e-Bay. He said that there are around 12,800 sellers in India who are making a living by selling goods and services on e-Bay. Some of the other successful e-business models that provide such opportunities to sellers are Amazon, Google, Wal-mart and Shopping.com.

Vishal Anand, founder and chief executive officer, Mahamaza, concluded by citing the leveraging points of direct selling on the Internet. He said that it was always a problem for a seller to reach out to large masses scattered around the globe. Therefore, inspired by Amazon, he had devised a referral programme for sellers, which would help them reach out to a larger section of buyers. Using the programme, any person or organisation with a website could place a banner or panel on Mahamaza for a commission fee, to direct the flow of buyers to an online customised store. The store would be in the name of the end user and he can use it to buy/sell brands, goods and services and earn profits. Currently, Mahamaza.com has around 3,00,000 referral partners.

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