Post by account_disabled on Mar 10, 2024 13:31:23 GMT 10
Photo: Pablo Cantero
Many self-employed workers, micro-businesses, and even larger SMEs have taken, or will take, their first step towards the internationalization of their offer through international online retail or B2B sales portals. At first glance, the advantages are considerable, and certainly deserve close analysis:
The use of these portals generally requires a relatively low financial investment, compared to what a well-designed and optimized website would entail for good positioning.
A good marketplace provides visibility to a volume of visitors that would be difficult for most small businesses to attract, at least not without sustained work of months or years. New customers can thus be loyal and redirected to the company's website
In many cases, it is easier for a potential client to trust companies that use this route, thanks to the supervision exercised by the portal, as well as by its users in opinion forums and reviews.
These portals usually offer an agile Ecuador Mobile Number List and simple way to create and manage a store with great visual appeal and ease of use for the consumer (within certain restrictions), even for users with little knowledge.
Properly leveraging these options provides an avenue to generate sales and revenue necessary for growth.
Sales experience on one of these sites allows you to test the waters before investing more efforts in reaching external markets or expanding the company's online presence: tastes and demands of buyers, search and purchase habits on the Internet, possible complications in shipping and customs clearance to foreign countries, export regulations, etc.
Naturally, not everything is as simple or beneficial as it seems, and employing this option without a well-thought-out strategy can harm the company's brand establishment and its long-term profits. It must be remembered that, taking into account the investment in time and knowledge necessary to obtain benefits, the total cost of sales in this way may not be compensated.
Achieving good results is never as simple as putting an e-store in a marketplace , and waiting for the huge visitor traffic to do the rest, just as it would happen in a physical environment such as a professional fair, which, like the Internet, concentrates no not only a high volume of visitors, but also a large number of competitors in the sector vying for your attention.
To obtain an adequate return, it is necessary to understand the optimization of the different search engines of each portal, which will be different from the commonly used search engines; This function does not remain static, but requires constant testing and improvement to achieve and maintain benefits.
In other words, maintaining a professional online presence on one of these portals is almost a full-time job, and approaching this task as a secondary option will probably end up being a waste of time and resources.
On the other hand, commissions both for putting products on sale and for each sale made through the portal, plus those for payment services such as PayPal, can quickly become very heavy for a small business; by adding other charges such as taxes and shipping costs, including packaging materials; Thus, the total cost of making a sale and getting it to the customer's door can significantly reduce the return on investment.
We must also add the fact that in the end, the effort invested will benefit the portal brand more, which will frequently be associated in the consumer's mind with the service provided, more than that of the company that provides the service; Even the most loyal buyer will typically say that they have purchased X product through _____ (name of the marketplace ), rather than mentioning the selling company.
Finally, if the product descriptions are the same as those on the company's website, this will have consequences for search engines that penalize duplicate content, which is more likely to negatively affect the positioning of the company's website, more than that of the largest portal.
These are just some of the factors that a company considering this option should take into account. Does all this mean that using these portals is not a good decision? No, since as we mentioned before, numerous SMEs have been able to take advantage of the services of different marketplaces to boost their presence in the global market. However, it is worth remembering that this option requires prior planning that takes into account the company's long-term objectives.
Many self-employed workers, micro-businesses, and even larger SMEs have taken, or will take, their first step towards the internationalization of their offer through international online retail or B2B sales portals. At first glance, the advantages are considerable, and certainly deserve close analysis:
The use of these portals generally requires a relatively low financial investment, compared to what a well-designed and optimized website would entail for good positioning.
A good marketplace provides visibility to a volume of visitors that would be difficult for most small businesses to attract, at least not without sustained work of months or years. New customers can thus be loyal and redirected to the company's website
In many cases, it is easier for a potential client to trust companies that use this route, thanks to the supervision exercised by the portal, as well as by its users in opinion forums and reviews.
These portals usually offer an agile Ecuador Mobile Number List and simple way to create and manage a store with great visual appeal and ease of use for the consumer (within certain restrictions), even for users with little knowledge.
Properly leveraging these options provides an avenue to generate sales and revenue necessary for growth.
Sales experience on one of these sites allows you to test the waters before investing more efforts in reaching external markets or expanding the company's online presence: tastes and demands of buyers, search and purchase habits on the Internet, possible complications in shipping and customs clearance to foreign countries, export regulations, etc.
Naturally, not everything is as simple or beneficial as it seems, and employing this option without a well-thought-out strategy can harm the company's brand establishment and its long-term profits. It must be remembered that, taking into account the investment in time and knowledge necessary to obtain benefits, the total cost of sales in this way may not be compensated.
Achieving good results is never as simple as putting an e-store in a marketplace , and waiting for the huge visitor traffic to do the rest, just as it would happen in a physical environment such as a professional fair, which, like the Internet, concentrates no not only a high volume of visitors, but also a large number of competitors in the sector vying for your attention.
To obtain an adequate return, it is necessary to understand the optimization of the different search engines of each portal, which will be different from the commonly used search engines; This function does not remain static, but requires constant testing and improvement to achieve and maintain benefits.
In other words, maintaining a professional online presence on one of these portals is almost a full-time job, and approaching this task as a secondary option will probably end up being a waste of time and resources.
On the other hand, commissions both for putting products on sale and for each sale made through the portal, plus those for payment services such as PayPal, can quickly become very heavy for a small business; by adding other charges such as taxes and shipping costs, including packaging materials; Thus, the total cost of making a sale and getting it to the customer's door can significantly reduce the return on investment.
We must also add the fact that in the end, the effort invested will benefit the portal brand more, which will frequently be associated in the consumer's mind with the service provided, more than that of the company that provides the service; Even the most loyal buyer will typically say that they have purchased X product through _____ (name of the marketplace ), rather than mentioning the selling company.
Finally, if the product descriptions are the same as those on the company's website, this will have consequences for search engines that penalize duplicate content, which is more likely to negatively affect the positioning of the company's website, more than that of the largest portal.
These are just some of the factors that a company considering this option should take into account. Does all this mean that using these portals is not a good decision? No, since as we mentioned before, numerous SMEs have been able to take advantage of the services of different marketplaces to boost their presence in the global market. However, it is worth remembering that this option requires prior planning that takes into account the company's long-term objectives.