I have always wanted to go to the Markets or Souks as they are known in Marrakesh, Morocco. The thought that trade has been going on for such a long time here and the vivid colours and the sounds and smells would be exhilarating. I wonder how many of the stall holders have adopted an online presence?
My discussion on Question 1.
I go through phases when online shopping is something I do regularly and then I will revert back to the physical process. There is something so satisfying about touching, feeling and walking away with a product. This is one down side to online shopping.
I am a big fan of organic fruit and veg, however honestly when I am at Coles or the local green grocer, the price point often plays a part in my decision making process. More often than not, when doing a big shop for a family of four, I revert back to regular fruit or veg... Insert www.foodgarden.com.au an online organic fruit and veg store that not only sells organic fruit and veg, but also stocks bread, eggs and staple food products (including delicious sourdough donuts filled with lemon curd), meaning that I can pick up all the important stuff from one place and they deliver to my door every Thursday for about 3 bucks. The produce is of such high quality and they provide a newsletter outlining exactly where each product has come to me from.
The great thing about this website is ease of use, I can order from my phone if need be, they are informative, giving you the exact location of where the fruit and veg is coming from, they are completely season driven and offer great vego recipes and a newsletter in your veg box aswell.
If I'm honest I have not used this service in about three months, however writing this blog reinforces how great the site and the business is, I'm off to place an order today.
I know I have had a couple of bad online experiences, but one that springs to mind is online clothes shopping. I fluctuate between a size ten and twelve most of the time and I am completely intimidated by the idea of measuring myself, not for any other reason than because numbers are not my thing. I am sure I will get it wrong, so when ordering a dress on Etsy.com I winged it with the measurements only to find said dress was too big, I sent it back and re ordered a paper bag skirt ( A skirt type that I now know only suits tall, thin girls) from Etsy.com. The site itself was fine, I had to communicate back and forth with the maker and although this took a little time, on the whole it was good. Having said that my husband has banned online clothes shopping from our house.
What can I say, it is the chance you take when buying online. My sister once spent 60 pound on a beautiful interior design book for me (or so she tells me) and it never turned up and because she wanted to give it sufficient time to arrive from the USA, by the time she realised it wasn't coming it had passed the time frame in which you can lodge an investigation.
For me the biggest selling points to a good online store is, it must be visually appealing, not too cluttered and easy to navigate. Honestly that is the same criteria I would use for physical shopping aswell. For me if I can't find things quickly and easily, I'm giving up and going elsewhere. Price point is important, however if something is presented in a way I love and feel I have to have it, I will save my pennies until I can afford it. For boring items like white goods, price point will win out every time. So it is interesting that essentially it is dependent on what I'm looking for as to what I will tolerate within a website.
I know the jury is out in regards to whether the prices of goods or services will rise or fall due to the migration of services online, however for the most part, I believe that prices will fall, whilst competition increases.
The only area in which I think we may see an increase is as less people engage in real life shopping,there may be an opportunity to create a niche market that sees physical shopping turned into an attraction people will pay for. i.e individualised shopping experiences with a stylist and access to exclusive, not available online products.
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My discussion on question 2.
The dispersion of prices. I think we will see more research undertaken in relation to what buyers want and essentially we may see the divide increase. In my opinion, there are two types of buyers. One that buys for quality and one that buys based on price.
Brand names will always be important. For some reason it is human nature to want to belong and for many to "belong" you need to be buying what others buy, eating what others eat and being seen where other people of note are being seen. With the introduction of social media, brand recognition and being able to associate with other like minded people, we see brand is as important as it has ever been.
I certainly don't believe that all products will be made cheaper due to competition. Sure, as I listed above, for me when it comes to white goods, price point is important, as too is quality, but after research, If I find the best product for cheaper on another site, I am switching in the blink of an eye. I think businesses will be looking for that competitive advantage, offering that ever decreasing product that isn't available anywhere else and being able to charge a premium. I think that businesses will be forced to offer amazing service and website usability to offer a product at a premium price.
Do I think digital markets will be dominated by a handful of mega-sites like Amazon? Yes I do, Like Michael Rappa said in his pod cast, if an organisation want to enter the retail market against Amazon, then competing with them will not be trivial and the cost of competing will be at a premium.Dominating the digital market is big business and an area where it is increasingly difficult for small fry to permeate.
Having said that I think the introduction of sites such as Etsy.com and madeit.com.au is a direct reaction to the generic nature of dealing with these retail giants. People are wanting a genuine interaction in a less than threatening environment, where they can buy a handmade product with a story and a face. These sites offer this experience. That is their point of difference.
How do I think the balance of power between buyer and seller will change? I'm not sure really. I think it is fair to say it is a buyers market. I think that as the realisation occurs that people are not actually getting good value for money and that prices of goods in areas such as aviation aren't transparent, we will see an increase in switching and an increase in brand loyalty.
There are lots of sites that offer clustering, be it airlines, white goods, travel, medications, high street fashion. The likes of Wotif.com, lastminute.com all offer several of the same product and their listed prices, for you to make the choice.
It is my opinion that the web has an advantage over physical shopping for demonstrating elasticity in relation to pricing. Businesses can monitor the market place electronically and react quickly to any differing of prices by competitors. Market research within a physical environment is much slower to react.
Transparency of pricing is an interesting one. With the introduction of clustering, absolutely we are seeing an element of transparency and fair price comparison, however in industries such as aviation, it is more perceived transparency.
Many people opt for cheap flights these days and that has certainly seen a price decrease in some areas of the industry, however because of that we have seen the introduction of the "Add on" it is a perceived saving.
I recently booked tickets to Thailand. The sale price was $800 for two people return, after going through all the add ons ( which included meals and seat allocation, credit card charge and taxes) this sale price ended up at around $1200.
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Source:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/
My discussions on question 3
a) What types of m-commerce services does your cell phone provider offer?
I am one of the lucky sheep that has an IPhone Five. I say sheep because isn't it what we all want, even when we say we don't (I was in denial for a long time, before I owned one). We are all sheep in so many facets of our life.
My Iphone offers more M-Commerce options than I would even know. I use it in a fairly basic way compared to others. Having said that, I know it offers the following:
SMS, MMS, Internet access, update notifications, Bill payment options, games (much to my childrens joy) and GPS (Siri can be both my best friend when I am lost, or my arch enemy when she does not understand my request).
Of the services, I have listed above, I use all of them. I also access Apps such as the CFA to find out fire conditions and the BOM to check the weather.
When using my phone, sometimes I call people. I know crazy! I use it to text people as I mentioned above, check weather, get directions, bid on Ebay and pay my bills. My husband even has an app to turn on the television. He can be standing next to the remote control fiddling with his phone to change the channel. Yep! he is all man.
I would love to be able to turn my coffee machine on when I am in transit. My machine takes half an hour to warm up. There is a wasted opportunity.
e) What is your opinion of wireless advertising/mobile marketing? I have not had much experience in relation to wireless advertising or mobile marketing. I use very few apps and have not ever experienced direct marketing through text as yet, however I imagine that is only a matter of time. From a limited amount of research on the highly reliable Wikipedia, I see that mobile marketing is huge in areas such as Japan and France. Without doubt one would think this is an enormous area of opportunity for advertisers going forward. Quite possibly the greatest opportunity in media today.
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