NU6 - Taking Advantage of Online/Forum Marketplace by R090206

Taking Advantage of Online/Forum Marketplace

By R090206

Nowadays, when we talk about marketplace, sometimes it is not the usual hot, crowded area where a lot of merchants are selling their wares. It is about the digital Marketplace. It is a virtual place where with a click of a button, you have purchased your items.  Examples of these are eBay, Amazon and iTunes.

There are also market forums. Where a seller will post an item he is selling and wait for prospective buyers to contact him. He will usually then meets up with these buyers to show his item for sale. A transaction is made after the two agrees on the purchase.

Some people think that these virtual marketplaces are stealing market share from their business. But if you think about it and use your imagination, you could find business opportunities on the online market itself!

These are some of some examples.

1)      Start a resale business. A prerequisite of this business is knowing the current price. An innovation here is to create an application to monitor all of the forums. This could be a simple script or a full blown Application (in which you could also market by the way). This application would notify you when a new post falls well below the current price. You could also form a network of buyers with you as the central headquarter. When a post in a distant place comes up, like for example Cebu or Davao, have someone in your network close to the person retrieve the item then sell it again online.

2)      Another idea is to have a drop out station. Some people who post their items have no time to visit prospective buyers. They could drop the item in the station where buyers can examine it. They will be notified as soon as the item is purchased.

3)      Creating a sell page. Most people don't know how to create a web page. Creating a simple page or posts, though it works, sometimes does not garner attention for most people. Having a business to create professional attractive pages or posts will help in selling the item.

4)      Another good idea would be combining idea number 2 and 3. People would just drop their item. The business' job would be to assess the possible price of it then create a page/post to sell the item. The company's positive review would also attract more prospective buyers. Like idea 4, the seller would be contacted when the item is sold.

5)      A gopher business could also work. Your business could be based on getting the items from busy sellers and meeting all of the prospective buyers. This could also cater to sellers who are afraid that they might get rob on a meet up.

6)      For those conscious of purchasing online, an idea would be having a business of purchasing online items for a fee. Some people feel that online purchase is not secured and they have a fear of being hacked. However, some items are not available in our country so there's no choice but to purchase online.

7)      Again to cater to online purchases, a business that resale gift certificates on online sites could be useful. Sites like amazon or itunes already have these gift certificates; it is possible to resell them to conscious people online. For those sites that don't, maybe having an arrangement with the web site owners will help.

8)      Being a courier for an online purchase could also be a business. Shipping fee is costly especially when the item is bought overseas. However, shipping cost per item can be reduced when the amount if items is compounded. Having a central dropbox in strategic countries then shipping the items simultaneously can be a source of business. 3.5

The difference between an ordinary people from an entrepreneur is what a normal person sees as a hindrance, the entrepreneur sees as an opportunity. Let's take advantage of the technological advances we have to build our own empire!