Online Market Places – Charting the Future of Trade and Commerce
The World Wide Web has revolutionized the concepts of trade and finance and has literally redefined the way people purchase and sell goods.
One of the landmark evolutions of the recent time has been that of Online Marketplaces. Online marketplaces, or e-markets as they are popularly called aim to create efficient platforms to bring together buyers and sellers at a massive scale.
Internet takes a business to a global scale and presents it before and international audience. Experts predict that more than 85% of the computer literate population of the world use the Internet to purchase goods. Hence, it offers tremendous business opportunities for buyers and sellers both.
Online market places are excellent venues to find potential service providers and sales leads and further profitable business endeavors. Let us examine some special features and highlights that makes online marketplaces so appealing to the business population.
Buying at the Best Prices
Who doesn’t like a good bargain? And especially when you can pick the best out of the lot. Online marketplaces give service providers and businesses an opportunity to strike a great deal with one another. This is because online marketplaces have a huge database of service providers which one can browse through and select the one that offers the most cost effective rates for the particular services.
Online marketplaces are highly popular in these times of recession and credit crunch. This is because people are trying to reduce costs and seek the cheapest rates possible for quality services. Thus they are embracing the services of the Internet.
Global Pool of Service Providers
Internet is able to extract value from otherwise unreachable areas. Web based marketplaces act as a global platform where buyers and sellers from across the world can come together and further profitable business endeavors. This helps in creating a online free market environment where businesses and service providers can interact profitably with one another. Because of the visibility of the deal, both the parties of the deal have power. Buyers who fail to make payments or service providers who fail to deliver can get negative rankings on the website and can even be removed from the site altogether.
Variety of Choices
Everyone like to be in control of things. Online marketplaces offer buyers the luxury of browsing through a variety of potential solutions for their requirements. Buyers can check out several options before making a choice. This gives them a sense of power and control and they are more convinced about the decision they make. Also, this make them spend money more readily.
Security Policies
Because there is huge amounts of cash involved in online marketplaces, these portals have strict security guidelines and privacy policies. All the information that is exchanged and all the credit details are secured and processed safely. This minimizes the risk of fraudulent transactions and deals and ensures safe processing.
Extensive Array of Products and Services
Online marketplaces generally cater to a broad range of industries. There are certain portals that specifically cater to certain segments but others generally include a variety of products and services. All one needs to do is post the requirements and place a Request for Bids and there will be vendors who offer the same and would submit Bids.
Online marketplaces create value addition for a business as it facilitates information sharing about products/services and their pricing. It matches buyers with corresponding sellers and improves the speed and accuracy of transactions.
Disclaimer: Sabra Easterday is the owner and founder of MatchB2B. Sabra is also a lawyer with a special interest in business issues and e-marketplaces. Notwithstanding that Sabra Easterday is a lawyer, nothing in this article and no services of MatchB2B or its website are legal services and no attorney-client relationship exists between any reader of this article or user, customer or potential customer of MatchB2B, and MatchB2B, its website or Sabra Easterday.