Normally the buying decision is made after significant time and effort spent in identifying the correct product or service, actually navigating around one or more stores and followed by a period of negotiation (the degree of which is based on the product in question).
For a company who works only on the net though, the buying decision is less about contrasting and comparing offered goods and more about a thriving Online Marketing campaign and the employment of an effective and diligent Website Optimization Company.
If we rule out the price and quality comparison sites for the purposes of this dialogue we can see that there are a number of factors in the normal buying process that are omitted on the Internet.
Firstly, location, which is a massive restriction for any non-internet purchases. Buyers are restricted to what is accessible within their local area, otherwise they are faced with a long journey. Locality of course is relative as some people will be ready to travel the longer distances and search in a much wider sphere than others. An internet purchase is location neutral, with the possible exception of a raised delivery charge. Effective Search Engine Placement will mean that an individual can buy from anywhere in the World, maybe without realising where the goods are coming from.
Secondly, variety. Whilst the dawn of the Internet and access to global markets would seem to provide the buyer extra choice, is that actually right? A number of firms, who have the capital, will employ successful and strong online marketing methods to make certain that their search engine placement is as strong as it can be. A company offering the same goods for lower prices may not be evident in the search engine listings. They may not have the capital to make use of the same standard of Search Engine Optimisation Company, and therefore given the profile of Internet buying habits and the propensity for searchers to buy from page 1 the lower priced items may well be unnoticed by the market.
Finally, availability. There is an increasing grievance that the “just in time” stocking strategies of high street shops means that buying decisions are being made on what is available ( “I’ll take it in Green if that’s all you’ve got….but I really wanted Brown”). The internet would seem to offer unlimited stock but again how many people are prepared to spend time in looking through results after page 1 or 2. As with high street outlet it is likely that the buying decision will made to save a few more seconds of hunting.
What we seem to have is the situation where productive Online Marketing processes run by a small number of organisations will effectively control the market. In physical retailing one can always look down the next road, in the technological world however you are basically told which corner to turn.
Through effective Search Engine Placement successful sellers can control the virtual high street and on the internet there are no secondary and tertiary pitches. What you are shown is what you get to choose from and most people will.
