Blog entry for E-Bus

Dear Sir,

My entry for the blog :

How the evolution of social media and e-commerce has helped SMEs.

The extent to which a business can grow is limitless. The rich and exciting way of presenting the information has helped a ton to so many industrial sectors. Everybody is looking to maximize the gains from this platform. Facebook, twitter , Youtube,LinkedIn etc are few of the major platforms that have a high degree of engagement of people.

Startups in India are focusing a lot on the potential of e-commerce and its reach. Eg: A electronic vendor at Nehru Place in New Delhi saw a surge in his business after creating an e-commercial platform for his business. In a matter of 8 years , 70% business started coming from online portal with on-shop selling increasing too.

The reasons for opting to have a social media presence are ample:

a.       It enables the users and the stakeholders to reach and communicate with the target segment directly.

b.      It has a large customer reach.

c.       Potential customers can then be persuaded, this incurs very low cost.

d.      Word of mouth also helps to create a buzz around it.

e.      It helps to know how your target segment is reacting to your brand along with the response of the same segment to your competitor's brand.

f.        Marketing campaigns on social media would cost a lot less for any new or small organization.

Talking about the front end of any e-commercial site, the extent to which it can keep a customer loyal to it depends on what sort of a business model they follow. The structure of the web page with the different folds having different contents helps to decide the intention of any commercial shopping site. Customizing a website according to its target customers' needs can add to the overall experience of the people. Online business or e-tailing depends a lot on the website of a particular organization looks. The features and positioning of the content on the pages are very crucial. They help in creating a good first impression. This is why it is crucial that these companies make sure the appearance is of high professional standards.

The innumerable examples that we have seen in class has helped us to understand this platform. Be it mobile, e-commerce or social media platforms, the underlying truth is that there is an immense pool of opportunity present. Entrepreneurs in India are taking advantage of this. There is huge increase in the amount of businesses that are growing online. From any new marketer's perspective it has become so crucial to see how the people behave online. Such patterns with the help of analytics will give a new dimension to way businesses market their products or services. Analyzing people's online behavior is a way which many would try to follow. Also with vast base of customers present online, surveys and beta testing of campaigns can be done at a much cheaper budget. Most of us spend half of our time on our PDAs doing stuffs on Facebook or e-commerce sites. This is a catch which many have banked upon. So I feel the startups and SMEs should further utilize this buying and scrolling behavior of the customers. Window shoppers are also present in the online world. They form the base of new potential targets. So if effective schemes and promos are meticulously framed and launched, it could help to find a new horizon of marketing.

Thanks and Regards

Ashutosh Sarkar

12IB-014

IMT Ghaziabad