Internet-based technologies, especially electronic commerce(e-commerce),offers SMEs the opportunity to cut business transaction costs and find new customers and suppliers, especially in markets they have not easily been able to reach before-either internationally or regionally . Apart from finding new customers, it also helps SMEs in serving existing and new customers better,offering more value to them. This goes a long way in building brand recognition, customer loyalty and therefore higher sales.
a. Business -to -Business (B2B) E- commerce
By becoming a member of an online B2B e- commerce site,an SME can have a low cost ,highly functional and easy- to- use channel for its sales operations. These are cost- effective marketplaces which provide SMEs with free listings in their directory. It also enhances their visibility in the product catalogues for importers ,exporters,manufacturers,suppliers.They offer a wide range of services that can be availed for free and then upgraded to premium accounts for better listings, visibility and responses. Apart from helping businesses in getting direct trade leads, online marketplaces also support their communication neds through online chatting tools. Both buyers and sellers can benifit by services offered by B2B e-commerce sites.
Potential buyers can freely navigate through the e-commerce sites to search for products and suppliers. If they find a product of their interest , they can send a query and directly contact the suppliers. The other effective way for buyers to find the required product is to register free and post unlimited buying leads – which are like wanted ads that tell the suppliers. These sites also offer instant messenger service that lets the buyer chat and send files to trading partners in real time.
As for suppliers,most of the e-commerce sites offer to create free websites for registered SMEs to display their products. However, premium members get customised listing for their products and better visibility in keyword searches. Through an e-commerce application a whole ordering process can be tracked from payment to delivery and bring greater efficiency in customer service. They can search for buyers and contact them directly or through instant messaging services. All sellers can reply to posted buyer’s leads. Both sellers and buyers also
get free personalised trade alerts daily /weekly in their inbox that notifies them of latest opportunities ,new offers and new product and company listings. Some of the B2B sites also enable SMEs to join discussion groups with their peers across the globe , and thereby share information and experiences. This is valuable especially to enterpreneures who are geographically isolated from peers in the same business and helps create business networks.
b. Business -to-Consumers (B2C) E-Commerce
There are numerous B2C shopping sites that offer fresh and used consumer goods and products for sale online . These online platforms follow highly customer-centric practices that include free home delivery of the products, multiple payment options (such as cash on delivery, internet banking , credit card , cheque pickup and EMI options) , product reviews and price comparisons. Sellers and manufacturers can register for free by filling up an online form and can start displaying their products and services on these online platforms . however, free registrants might face some restrictions in terms of number of products they can display on these sites. Some of the e -commerce platforms also offer auction services,which enables the sellers to sell their products at dynamic prices based on supply and demand. Theses sites offer either either manufacturer’s or seller’s warranty and therefore require sellers to supply quality products to ensure brand value.
Examples of online Tools for sales
a. B2B E- commerce sites
Indiamart.com: One of the largest B2B marketplaces in india, IndiaMART.com brings bulk buyers and suppliers together through business directories, online product catalogs, buy-sell offers, industry specific marketplaces, sourcing guides, tradeshow participation , free lising,free tenders and many other value added services.
Trademart.in: Buyers and sellers get free listings in 27 business portals. As a free member one can use search tools, contact each other directly. Buyers can post sales leads and send inquires to suppliers free of cost.. Sellers can post products to sell and contact certain buyers who accept quotations from free members.
Alibaba.com: Global leader in B2B e-commerce with over 6.5 million members in 240 countries worldwide. By registering free a business enterprise gets a free company website and can display upto 50 products. The site gives free trade alerts and free ‘trendsget’, which gives the trends on the most searched products, most inquired products, categories with fewer competitors and more.
ecplaza.com: Features are similar as Alibaba.com . In its ad- service, there is “one-a-day” option, which is a way to promote only one company, product or service to the target customers of the world for a day in all pages of EC Plazawebsite.
b. B2B E-commerce sites
ebay.in: Registration is free but restricts the seller in terms of number of product categories.
indiaplaza.in: It has over one million online transaction customers globally. Provides both free and paid sevices.
shopping.rediff.com: Provides sale amd purchase of three services: customer products, gifts and auctions.
naaptol.com: Comparison based social shopping portal . Product listing is free on this site.
shopping.sify.com
homeshop18.com: Operates in a multimedia environment including television, web, catalogue and print to reach quality products and services directly to customers across the country.
II. Downloadable Tools
There are free ERP tools specially designed for SMEs that can support n efficient management of entire sales process. As the coverage of these tools is more comprehensive and not limited to purchase or sales,they will be discussed in later posts. To keep yourself abreast with our news and posts, subscribe to our monthly newsletter.
