Understanding the Global Marketplace
The single greatest invention for interstate and even international trade is the internet.
But as large as the internet is, it can be surprisingly easy operate in the global market place.
Big box retailers and huge corporate service providers have more or less the same access to customers that you do in the virtual bazaar known as the internet.
Wal-Mart might have a goliath of a website to easily navigate, but in some ways that takes the in person edge away.
It's easy to pull up a page with 100 TVs of assorted sizes, but the descriptions are limited to a small thumbnail.
With a lack of detailed description, it's much harder to make an informed choice.
Smaller companies on the web are able to "pitch" their services and inventory because they can put time and effort into their business.
Buying rubber baby bumpers just got personal again.
The big retailers have made one stop shopping the standard that smaller business just can't keep up with.
However, people will comparative shop much more at home than they would in person.
There are no crowds to fight, no pushy sales people and the parking's better at home anyway.
Specialized search engines and even social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace make it possible to make your storefront "international", reaching potential customers who might never visit Platteville, NE or Glenns Falls, NY.
This has to potential to increase your sales and lower your overhead.
Increasing your "sales floor" is a matter of adding another page or two to your site.
There's no need to add warehouse space out back and build more floor space.
Online, this takes minutes or hours, not days or weeks.
And there are no spooky construction workers scaring your clientele.
There is that much growth potential out on the World Wide Web.
In the last two years, internet shopping and commerce (e commerce) has grown 40% (Nielsen) and this trend shows no sign of plateau in the foreseeable future.
Books, clothing and electronics are the top sellers on the internet now.
However downloadable software and media is rapidly becoming the norm.
The sites that offer these sorts of merchandise and services aren't limited to say, a 30 mile radius of where they pay rent and taxes, but can reach out to anyone.
Nothing is off limits either.
Kohl's can boast hundreds of thousands of clothes, but can a retailer like that afford to specialize in just scarves? Probably not, but Martha Liebsnitch in Monterey, California, grandmother of 5 and part time scarf designer can.
And what's more, Martha's business is only limited by how well she can fire the imagination of her potential customers.
Some of us remember the pet rock of the 70s.
This was started by a roadside tourist trap alongside a highway.
People passing through would stop and buy a rock painted up to look like an animal.
The trend caught on and for a while everyone had to have one.
Imagine if that highway had been the information super highway?
But as large as the internet is, it can be surprisingly easy operate in the global market place.
Big box retailers and huge corporate service providers have more or less the same access to customers that you do in the virtual bazaar known as the internet.
Wal-Mart might have a goliath of a website to easily navigate, but in some ways that takes the in person edge away.
It's easy to pull up a page with 100 TVs of assorted sizes, but the descriptions are limited to a small thumbnail.
With a lack of detailed description, it's much harder to make an informed choice.
Smaller companies on the web are able to "pitch" their services and inventory because they can put time and effort into their business.
Buying rubber baby bumpers just got personal again.
The big retailers have made one stop shopping the standard that smaller business just can't keep up with.
However, people will comparative shop much more at home than they would in person.
There are no crowds to fight, no pushy sales people and the parking's better at home anyway.
Specialized search engines and even social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace make it possible to make your storefront "international", reaching potential customers who might never visit Platteville, NE or Glenns Falls, NY.
This has to potential to increase your sales and lower your overhead.
Increasing your "sales floor" is a matter of adding another page or two to your site.
There's no need to add warehouse space out back and build more floor space.
Online, this takes minutes or hours, not days or weeks.
And there are no spooky construction workers scaring your clientele.
There is that much growth potential out on the World Wide Web.
In the last two years, internet shopping and commerce (e commerce) has grown 40% (Nielsen) and this trend shows no sign of plateau in the foreseeable future.
Books, clothing and electronics are the top sellers on the internet now.
However downloadable software and media is rapidly becoming the norm.
The sites that offer these sorts of merchandise and services aren't limited to say, a 30 mile radius of where they pay rent and taxes, but can reach out to anyone.
Nothing is off limits either.
Kohl's can boast hundreds of thousands of clothes, but can a retailer like that afford to specialize in just scarves? Probably not, but Martha Liebsnitch in Monterey, California, grandmother of 5 and part time scarf designer can.
And what's more, Martha's business is only limited by how well she can fire the imagination of her potential customers.
Some of us remember the pet rock of the 70s.
This was started by a roadside tourist trap alongside a highway.
People passing through would stop and buy a rock painted up to look like an animal.
The trend caught on and for a while everyone had to have one.
Imagine if that highway had been the information super highway?
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