Buying and selling in virtual marketplaces

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Introduction:

The Internet is flooded with virtual marketplaces today and the

businesses can afford to pick and choose. Are you still wondering, what exactly do people

mean when they say marketplaces? Do you still conjecture images of your local vegetable

and fish bazaar when you hear the name ‘marketplace’? Scroll further down and

read more.

As most of us already know, a B2B marketplace is an Internet platform

for buyers and sellers across the globe to meet and showcase their products. So if you

were wondering what to do with that lathe machine you didn’t need anymore, a B2B

marketplace is where you should be heading. Is it a complicated, cumbersome and an

expensive venture or is it really a boon to the thousands of small and medium

entrepreneurial ventures dotting the country today? We need to investigate.

The first step is that you need access to a computer and find out about

all the functional marketplaces that offer services on the Net. There are several players

on the like indiamarkets.com, ITNation.com, E-Plastics India (for the Plastic buyer and

trader community), Satyam Plastics, Trade India, India Apparel (for the textile segment of

the market), Kagaz (catering to the paper and pulp sector) and clickforsteel.com. Hold

your breath, these are just a few as a lot more exist and there are some more in the

offing. The procedure is relatively simple and quite ‘headache less’ too. If you

are a small venture looking for a good break in the virtual world, you need to look at

some of these aspects and weigh the pros and cons.

• Ask yourself why you need to register yourself at a marketplace? Do you need to do
  
  countrywide business? Are your clients based across the country? Do you think you are in
  
  need of a platform to do better business? And finally, think if it is the right time for
  
  you to jump into the B2B revolution.

• Go to the nearest place where there is Internet access and search for all the
  
  marketplaces registered on the Web. If you are doing international business, look for
  
  international marketplaces, and if you have Indian customers and buyers then look
  
  exclusively for Indian marketplaces.

• Also, try and search for marketplaces that offer B2B platforms for exclusive businesses.
  
  For example, Click for steel is an exclusive marketplace for steel buyers, sellers and
  
  users and if you belong to the same league it makes more sense to register in such a
  
  specialized marketplace than an all-purpose one. India apparels deals with textile
  
  manufacturers, retailers and buyers, so if you are a silk yarn manufacturer looking for
  
  customers, then India apparel might be just what you are looking for. SIZE="3">

• See what the marketplaces offer to you as services, ascertain if any of the services are
  
  free, and find out what are the value-adds. Think and decide if what they are offering to
  
  you will be either of direct or indirect boost to your business. According to the
  
  marketplaces, by listing the products alone, you can gain access to a worldwide audience
  
  of buyers at zero cost. Most of the marketplaces levy no charges to list your product
  
  range on the marketplace. Says, Gururaj, a networking engineer whose company is listed
  
  with ITNation, that the basic services are absolutely free and you only have to pay for
  
  the value-adds. Which, I think, is fair enough. As a seller you stand to get immediate
  
  enquiries from prospective buyers and in the long run make substantial savings on your
  
  marketing costs. You can also list any surplus inventory and used machinery you wish to
  
  sell.

• Discuss with friends and other businesses that are already registered under a
  
  marketplace. But do not evaluate the situation entirely based on their feedback alone.
  
  Speaking to many businesses that have registered in marketplaces I found that most of them
  
  felt absolutely no growth or improvement in their businesses after they registered in a
  
  B2B marketplace. But a factor you cannot ignore is that most of them are recent users and
  
  according to Mr.Rohan Ajila, MD of indiamarkets.com, you simply have to give some time and
  
  cannot expect overnight miracles. The other grouse with some marketplace users are that
  
  their customers are not registered with the marketplace and hence it may become
  
  practically worthless that they have registered with one. So you need to evaluate the
  
  situation and decide if the time is appropriate that you become a registered member.

• Also, compare the costs and see if your business can really afford the cost. Think long
  
  term and see if the investment would reap you rich dividends. This is in particular
  
  reference to small businesses as the cost factor plays a very important role. According to
  
  Mr.Paul Koshy, employed at Larsen and Toubro, they registered with indiamarkets.com and
  
  the company already had allotted that much money to invest for this purpose and it was
  
  okay to do so. He felt that small businesses might not be able to do so and hence may not
  
  be able to afford it.

• Once you are finished with the groundwork you can zero in on the one marketplace that
  
  seems the most suitable for your needs and contact them for the further procedures.

Going by what many people registered with marketplaces said, the procedure to register

is a very swift and smooth procedure. It is a highly standardized procedure that would

hardly require any effort. Once you are registered, go back to your business as usual and,

as said earlier, do not expect exponential changes. As they say, good things happen

steadily and incrementally and they also last long that way.