Marektplace Vs Own E Store

In Business, like life, there are a series of multiple paths to tread; there are sets of various options. In the maze of when there are numerous permutation & combinations to promote business, to find one is not always an easy choice. Initially, there were only brick and mortar shops. Then online was considered to be the panacea. Now, marketers find that even this isn’t enough. They have switched to the combo of Brick & Mortar shops and Online. This is something like the Unified field theory that tries to explain everything. 

Online business is in India is growing the highest in the world at a whopping 51% annually. It’s estimated that from US $ 39 billion in 2017 to US $ 120 billion in 2020. You would not certainly like to lose a pie from such huge business quantum. Online business has two variants to promote your products and services- Owning a Website & Market Place.  One always dabbles between online E-shop and Market place. In this blog, we will try and find an answer as to which a better option is; owning an online shop or investing in the market place.

Let’s begin with understanding what a market place is? It’s defined as an e-commerce site where products are provided by several third-party sellers and are processed by the marketplace operator who acts as a big daddy. In simple language, it is like any big departmental store near your locality, the one that houses all kinds of products from a needle to the rocket.  The only difference is that it’s on the web. So, you can say it’s like a virtual departmental store. Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, etc fall in this category.

On the other hand, E-Shop is a self-hosted platform. It’s like any run of the mill kind brick and mortar shop in your lane. Again, it’s on the web.

One can sell h/er products through any of the two mediums available, i.e. through the market place or from E-Shop. Both the mediums have a set of advantages and disadvantages. Now let’s understand each in detail. Let’s understand the pros and cons of the following parameters

Owing an e-commerce website means, you own it and promote your brand and products from it. The advantages of this are that you can run tailor-made e-campaigns to promote your ideas, products, and brand. It helps in enhanced customer loyalty and better recall. On the flip side, it’s a time taking and costly process as visitors/customers take time in getting familiarized with it.

Marketplace is a platform that already has a set of visitors thronging it and making a regular purchase. One can start picking up business in lesser time as compared to the former. However, what brand differentiation is not possible in it as there are hosts of other third-party players. Moreover, it gives less space. Also, you cannot run your campaigns. However, it doesn’t stop you from offering discounts. But yes, you have to always share your earnings and revenue with the market place.

As far as control is concerned, it’s always better when you own your website. When it’s a question of traffic, market place should always be opted.

To make it simple, check out the box given below.

Items	Market Place	Own E-Shop
Traffic	Higher	Low
Cost	Low	Higher
Campaigns	✗	✔
Control	✗	✔
Brand Building	✗	✔
Differentiation	✗	✔

So, if you’re keen to get as many eyeballs as possible latching on your product and you are currently budget-conscious for SEO or paid advertising or not very confident with the prototype of your business model or products, then consider selling your products on marketplaces. But, hold on, there is one more logical way. And it is having both the options working hand in hand. You can host your product on the marketplace and also you can get your website. The only consideration is money spend on them. To begin with, you can spend more resources on market places vis a vis your website. As & when your website starts gathering more eyeballs, you can reverse the trend of resource utilization. It would be like e relay race in which you will make market place will pass on the baton to your website. After all, the whole idea is to win the race.    

Gauri Lankesh...Will Bengluru do Something as a part of Corporate Governance

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It was in 1964, not so long back, when Martin Luther King , who had turned 37 that year became the youngest to get Noble Peace Prize . Evan Allen, Mayor of Atlanta City, planned a gala dinner in the honour of King as he belonged to that town. Allen’s invitation to all the who’s who of the City got tepid response as it had whites in Majority and honouring King, was below their dignity. Allen than decided to seek the help of Ex. President of Coca Cola, Robert Woodruf, who in turn asked J. Paul Austin, CEO of the Company to talk to the high and mighty of the City and persuade them to join in the dinner. Coke in those years was on the way to become truly multinational and it was pride for Atlanta City to have Coke’s office. Seeing the cold response, Paul Austin held a media conference. In it, he messaged that if the City cannot honour its hero, King in the case here, than Coke Management will not think twice before shifting its office to some other location. No matter what so ever losses are incurred in the process. Sensing, this and realizing their folly, the elite of the City not only attended the dinner but made sure that the night becomes memorable for King. Almost 12000 were party to the function. Honored King responded to the audience by saying that memories of this night will remain in his life for long time to come. All of them stood & the famous song ‘We shall Overcome’ was sung that night. Till date, this has been one of the most powerful messages of Corporate Social Responsibility of Companies. Will the Powerful Companies of Bengaluru come forward to show their Corporate Social Responsibility to get the killers of Gauri Lankesh nab? Will the high and mighty of the City condemn the killing of Gauri Lankesh?

I am still hopeful!