Using technology to sell globally

YEARS ago when e-commerce was just new, there was a saying that if one does not go into e-commerce, it was as if one is not going into commerce at all.

By now, we all know that pervasive e-commerce has not happened, or perhaps we should just say that it has not happened yet.

In a way, many had that same optimism years ago when office automation was starting as a fad. That was the time when many people had thought or had hoped that everything would become paperless.

As we know it now, the “paperless” society did not come about, and instead what we have now is a society that uses “less paper.” As we move forward however, there is a welcome twist that is raising our expectations, and that is the emergence of “mobile” commerce aside from, or on top of “online” commerce.

As many people had hoped before, the “virtual” world would grow, as the “brick and mortar” world would crumble. True enough, the “virtual” world is growing thanks in part to “mobile” commerce, but it seems that the “brick and mortar” world is not crumbling yet, if ever it still would.

As it would probably happen within the next few decades, there will be a parallel coexistence or equilibrium between the “virtual” world and the “brick and mortar” world, in much the same way that there is now a parallel coexistence or equilibrium between the “paperless” society and the society that uses “less paper.” No one really knows when the equilibrium would tilt if ever it would, but meanwhile, we have to live with what we have.

Even if it could be said that global e-commerce is growing at a remarkable rate, it could also be said that the greater part of global commerce now is still transacted in the old ways of the “brick and mortar” world. What that means is that the majority of international trading in the form of imports and exports is still transported in the form of shipping containers, and the goods that are shipped through these containers are still sold in boxes or bags out of the retail stores.

It could also be said that there are still many small exporters that are making some money through these old ways, but just the same, there are more big traders and giant multinational companies that are dominating the global markets more than the small players.

As it is supposed to be, technology in general and information & communications technology (ICT) in particular is supposed to have a liberating and democratizing effect upon society. It is actually difficult now to draw the line between “online” commerce and “mobile” commerce, but both of these means of commerce are powered by ICT, in more ways than one.

In a similar manner, it is also difficult to draw the line between e-commerce and m-commerce, the latter being a term that is now used to refer to “mobile” commerce. One could say that “online” means going through internet bandwidth and “mobile” means going through cellular networks, but the differences between these two are also disappearing.

Never mind the technical differences between e-commerce and m-commerce, because the bottom line really is to sell goods and services via agile means, in such a way that more people could take advantage of the business opportunities so that more people could sustain their livelihoods and make more money, hence the liberating and democratizing effects.

The reason why more people could now take advantage of the business opportunities is that goods could now be sold via online and mobile means in smaller numbers, and anyone could now sell anything to a global market even if he or she does not have a retail store, and even if he or she is not selling enough to load into the big shipping containers.

Doing business via e-commerce and m-commerce is as easy as 123 and anyone can learn it and go into it. Everything could be learned, and there is not much has to be learned actually, other than producing a good quality product that has a good value proposition.

Simply put, new entrants just have to learn the basic concepts of drop shipments, just in time deliveries, merchant accounts and payment systems. In the “brick and mortar” world, small business owners have to worry about advertising because they could not afford it. In the “virtual” world however, anyone could use the search engines and social sites for free. Of course, it would cost money to build and maintain a website, but the costs are definitely much less than keeping a physical store.

Since we all know that we have very high poverty rates and that is partly due to our very high unemployment rates. With not too many jobs available, the way out for most people is to go into business by becoming an entrepreneur.

There is admittedly a local market for goods that will be sold electronically, but the bigger market is the outside world. Facebook alone has over a billion people as its members and that is already a lot of online customers to tap. Just check the numbers. Even if all of us 100 million Filipinos will sell globally by using electronic means, we have about 4 billion customers to sell to, assuming that only half the people of the world are buying goods electronically./PN