Business today has become very competitive. Cut throat competition demands more visibility than ever before. Companies try to reach out their prospective customers through all conventional means primarily through print and television media. However, envisaging a change, some forward thinking businesses do realize the importance of creating their own online identities and they end up developing a website for their business. But sooner or later they realize that a website alone cannot do much in this huge virtual world. Just plain websites generally lead to a huge gap in enticing the target audience.
Though, what will be pertinent to coup the plight of businesses is transient and the permanent solution is still an obscure issue. But in the present scenario of development and technological advancement, for any company to grow, an online marketplace for networking and matchmaking is a must. An e-marketplace is a virtual online market where organizations register as buyers or sellers to conduct business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce over the internet. Going an extra mile with such online matchmaking platform is an utter need of the hour.
The online marketplace provides a means for buyers of various types of products and job shops to find one another and do business. In this online version, however, buyers need not search out potential suppliers through directories, word-of-mouth recommendations or other manual means. A representative said that IndiaMART.com, India's biggest online B2B marketplace, allows businesses to connect with their customers, pushing out information and sell to those customers on the spot - when the customer is ready to buy. And on the reverse, it allows buyers to browse, look at products, send the merchant a note/query and buy on the spot after being registered. Addition to it, buyers post their requests for quotes (Buy/sell leads) on the web site, similarly on these pages a supplier can post their selling offers.
These market places are becoming the boom for the industry. It provides business and prospective leads through its versatile services at a very low prices (as the online medium is much cheaper and efficient than the archaic methods of sales such as cold calls, mailers.) Services offered by such e-marketplaces include electronic catalogues for online purchasing of goods and services, business directory listings, communication, credibility to the suppliers and online auctions. Ideally, such marketplaces provide a turnkey way for businesses to have a presence online (complimenting or in place of a web site), find customers (or enable customers to find them) and facilitate online transactions. It help the buyers/ suppliers to opt for cheaper medium, which costs less but brings high benefits. Since it costs nothing to join these matchmaking platforms like IndiaMART.com, it can't hurt to invest some time to setup your online profile, if you get business, good. If you don't find it working for you, you've just lost a few minutes of time.
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