(Sjoe, just saw my post in preview, sorry for the long windedness, I suppose from this you can at least see I do believe in the concept )Isn't putting your products on Bid or Buy putting them in directo comparison with similar products? Or putting your products on a website like Pricecheck, you are placing your products in direct comparison with others. So what makes you different than any other online business, or what makes your auction products any different than the next guy auctioning the same product? Service. You provide a better service than the next guy and it is seen by the rating you receive. For that matter, what makes your business different when you place them in direct comparison with others who offer the same products, when you list in the Yellowpages? The size of your ad? Or what your friends are saying about your service? Or the fact that you are carrying the item that I am looking for.
Businesses in SA should get the message: The consumer isn't here to be milked. If you are part of the Dual Sport motorcycle groups, you will hear the outcry for service delivery.
The way of the future is the web, and you either get with the program, or you are left behind. And to my understanding you have embraced the internet to your success. Aisle five isn't for everyone. If you sell antiques for example, Aisle five isn't for you. However if you sell solar geysers, that is easy to list. Plus, if I am looking for a Samsung Ultra Plano LCD TV, what makes you different than Makro, or the little guy on a side street you never heard off? Service delivery. And with these kind of products you wont have just one ever in your store. You stock TV sets.
The SA market is changing, and people want service delivery. They can find out everything they want from the net. However, they still need to go to a shop and listed to a sales rep who can tell them nothing more about the product than what is written on the box. And they charge a higher price for the same products, which when you look around, is obviously spent on making the shop look nice, and keeping 15 sales reps to annoy you with useless info.
Aisle five is about find the the product, sold by the business that is rated to be the best in service delivery by others. However I am suspecting that most businesses these days don't care about making a customer, they would rather make a sale. Only problem with that is that eventually everyone will hear about your bad service delivery, and you wont have repeat business.
But like I said, Aisle five wont be for everyone. There are some products that just wont work on the site for they are unique and once off. And many businesses wont want to list themselves on an online business directory in this way because they are more expensive but offer nothing extra compared to the bloke selling the products from his garage, but deliver and install the product free of charge. Its about finding the product with the best service delivery attached. Plus its about saving time for the consumer who has less time to spend looking for a product. If online shopping websites can do it, there is no reason why "offline" shops can do it online with selling online because the main concept is not to sell online.
Anyway, the service is there for the consumer. The service is aimed at providing the consumer a convient service. Serving the customer. And with the listing you can add your service to that product listing by including extra info on the product and its application and what extra service you provide not just for that product, but related. You can see each product placing as an advertisement. Like Google SEO and tag linking. You are not just advertising that you sell a solar geyser online, within that product article you are telling the visitor that you also install this product free of charge, and if you want, you can include your other services. And on your profile page, you list all the services that you offer. You can also link back to all the product categories that you supply.
I am in the process of filling my categories today with product listings from an imaginary business to properly display how Aisle five is serving the consumer.
Look, it might be a bad idea, it might even be premature for our SA market, however, I paid for hosting a year in advance and I will promote this business, if it fails, I'm one step closer to a successful business. However, I am looking at this website from a consumer viewpoint in full personal honesty, and I would love it if it works cause it will save me a ton of time in trying locate the products I have searched for in the past.
Thanks for your input Adrian, I appreciate it. Because of your initial post I am now including those demo products in order to help explain the concept behind Aisle five to the visitor.
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