Micro/Small or Medium-sized companies? Which is a better target market?
We Filipinos in particular, have a natural knack for rooting for the underdogs. I am also guilty of this. In the area of E-commerce, there is a common perception that big companies are slow (because of their size and inherent bureaucracy) while SMEs or the small businesses are both agile and faster in making decisions and implementing changes.
CEO Charlie Fong likens a big company to a giant who is slow in movement and decision-making
Like everything I have learned about E-commerce in the Philippine context, the reality is not what it appears to be and the exemptions to the rule happens far too often. Where I purposely positioned my E-commerce site (www.bigbenta.com) to help the small or even the micro enterprises go online and expand their limited customer reach and visibility, I am now rethinking that belief. This rethinking came about after experiencing firsthand, how the close to two hundred (200) micro and small business in bigbenta.com failed to realize the market benefits of pushing their businesses online.
Like the fictional character, Scrooge, micro and small companies are not willing to spend a single penny to set up an online shop. They are satisfied selling on social media particularly Facebook. This is a frustration expressed by BigBenta.com founder, Charlie Fong.
My experiences in dealing with the micro and small enterprises, with some exceptions of course, are a combination of frustration and hope. They (micro and small enterprises) are generally a big fan of Facebook and until recently, online classified ads. Hence, online selling is nothing new to them. They know the cost of doing business and yet, they are reluctant to spend even a peso to set up their online store. The second hurdle that we faced is their lack of willingness to update their products and submit the information that are needed to properly display their products. For most, they would not update any of their products information nor put a web-worthy product to begin with. To solve this issue, I set up a customer support team in bigbenta.com whose sole responsibility is to set up online stores. Regularly, we check for product relevancy and availability.
Most often, merchants from micro and small cannot be reached, resulting to un-served orders.
It seems everything looks fine until the first sale transaction comes for that particular Store and there comes another dilemma.
The Store owner is on vacation or out of town and no one in his/her staff is briefed to handle the order processing or it could also be that the Store owner does not have the inventory pertaining to that order. This then results to us canceling the order and in some cases, reimburse the payment already made by a customer.
The variety of issues in dealing with micro and small enterprises is far and wide. Some require quick decision to address while some are not anymore within the confines of our competency as an e-commerce business.
As BigBenta.com grows, the medium-sized companies begin to take notice and I have the fortunate opportunity to sit down with some of the founders and owners of the larger companies. Upon sharing their views about the future of internet and their business and exchanging notes on what I encounter as I do my business, they politely encourage me to “stop dealing with the small players and instead focus on companies such as them”. The large players as they explained, have the resources to deliver professional product information (images and descriptions), wholesale pricing, healthy inventory, customer and warranty support, product marketing and promotions. I know from my experience and to a certain extent that this claim is actually true.
The above companies belong to the medium size segment, which founder Charlie Fong feel are more ready and capable to get into e-commerce.
So will I go for the medium and large enterprises and leave the small and micro players to sort their fortunes online or I stick to my own original concept and somewhat bleed in terms of operational profitability? After giving it much thought, I decided to pursue both but in varying degree. The large players by their sheer size and capability presents the existing opportunity, the now for BigBenta.com. This is a straightforward business agreement, which will benefit both our company as soon as we launch. The micro and small enterprises presents the future of Philippine online business and by supporting them at this early stage of their business life, their loyalty and growth opportunity (as they grow their businesses) will be part of BigBenta.com's story; taking advantage of the business at present while leveraging for the future.
The above companies belong to the medium size segment, which founder Charlie Fong feel are more ready and capable to get into e-commerce.
So will I go for the medium and large enterprises and leave the small and micro players to sort their fortunes online or I stick to my own original concept and somewhat bleed in terms of operational profitability? After giving it much thought, I decided to pursue both but in varying degree. The large players by their sheer size and capability presents the existing opportunity, the now for BigBenta.com. This is a straightforward business agreement, which will benefit both our company as soon as we launch. The micro and small enterprises presents the future of Philippine online business and by supporting them at this early stage of their business life, their loyalty and growth opportunity (as they grow their businesses) will be part of BigBenta.com's story; taking advantage of the business at present while leveraging for the future.
Pic Credits: Freepik, Channel EYE, Nolan Art, Dazed Reflections of A Diva, Muscle Giant Walking Animation art YT, vecteezy.com, BigBenta does not own any of these pictures. Credit goes to respective owners.
