With the internet becoming the essential part of everyday routine, businesses have realized the need of having an online presence giving scope to e-commerce market to flourish. Substantial growth in internet and smartphone usage have opened the doors for customers to access the online market worldwide. Customers now have the opportunity to shop online almost anything and everything that they want and have the freedom to choose their vendors based on the product offerings, prices, services etc. on an e-commerce website.
In the recent years, we have seen e-commerce industry growing by leaps and bounds and a new business setting up store almost every single day across the world. However, till date, retailers and aggregators have ruled the online marketplace whereas manufacturers have focused only on production. This is a manually created ecosystem which has gained its acceptance worldwide. But the question is, are we all trapped in this ecosystem and isn’t there a different path to follow?
There are manufacturers like Adidas, Puma and few more who broke the stereotypes and launched their own e-commerce websites gaining the access to millions of customers online. The growth in e-commerce industry has enticed the manufacturing firms to spread out their wings and sell their products directly to the customers in the online marketplace. This approach focuses on connecting the customers to the manufacturers directly under one single establishment.
BENEFITS
Let’s look at the benefits of owning an e-commerce website to sell products directly than outsourcing it to the third party.
– A new trend that everyone follows, is customization. Customers love to order personalized products based on their needs and it has also become a USP for most of the sellers to increase sales. The direct approach makes it easier for both the parties to understand the customization and work towards it.
– The products are available at a lesser cost as it eliminates the third-party commission. Manufacturers do not have to share their profit with anyone. Thus, better revenue.
– Customers love to buy directly from the manufacturers because of the trust factor that the product is 100% genuine. They have the access to accurate product information and support in case of any replacement or return. This leads to better customer satisfaction.
– Manufacturers generally do not have the “out of stock” concept and thus are able to sell better as compared to the agents/third parties. Moreover, customers have the access to wide range of products, its varied colors, shapes, and size.
– Manufacturers create a direct connection with the customers which can indeed help them in advertising their products further. It gets easy to gather feedback and suggestions to improvise the product and sell better!
SCENARIO IN INDIA
From small family businesses to large organizations, business owners prefer to have their own e-commerce websites to reach out to the target audience. An art gallery from Jaipur “ICA GALLERY”, has developed their e-commerce website to sell paintings online. It is yet another revenue-generating platform for the business owner as he has expanded his reach to the audience settled outside Jaipur. Similarly, a toy manufacturer from Noida, “MASOOM” which started its toy factory in the year 1942 has expanded its reach by selling toys on their own website, providing higher value to customers. Adding more to such examples, “HONEYWELL CREATIONS” from Tamil Nadu, manufacturing knitted and hosiery garments have an online store ‘YUKTH‘ and offer free delivery all over India.
CONCLUSION
This approach does not put an end to non-manufacturer retail stores. There is still a lot of demand left to fulfill. This direct approach was not even possible until e-commerce was introduced to the customers.