In Mkt 595, we received an article chronicling what appears to be the demise of online commerce. The article states that this month, market share for ecommerce has only seen a 1% profit. Not only that, for the last six months, there has been a continual slow down in growth rates of ecommerce.
I know that some would say this is just another 'sign of the times' but, I actually think this is contradictory to the times.
My main reason for that belief is in my point of view, during these times of economic adversity, ecommerce should actually be thriving.
1. When you shop online, most likely you will receive better deals
2. When shopping online, most sites, nowadays offer some sort of discount on shipping or free shipping altogether, just to give you more value for your dollar.
3. When shopping online, this may be easier than onsite -although I daresay the reason I'm about to mention is a double-edged sword- if you know what you're looking for, chances are, there is less of an opportunity for impulse buys (though I know some disagree). If there is less impulse buying, more money has the potential to be saved.
4. When shopping online, how about that 'convenience factor'? It's getting colder outside, so the most natural inclination is to 'nest'. If you're ordering online, you don't have to pile on the layers of clothing, brave the elements, use unnecessary gas, fight for or pay for parking, stand in long lines, deal with screaming babies, the list could go on.
I think I have made my point why we should all be shopping from our seat instead of on our feet. Don't you? http://lapoluxury.soulpurpose.net
Check it out. You'll be glad you did!
Here's James' article: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2588
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
MLM at its' best!
Multilevel marketing doesn't get much, if any respect in the world of business. I'm not quite sure why. It's totally legitimate as long as there is an exchange of product and/or services. Sure, there have been some bad apples who sully the profession but, what profession exists that has never had people in that profession perform in such a way as to put a blight on the whole profession. Even when that happens, the profession continues and respect is doled out based on what most of those within that profession do. Not Multilevel marketing though.
Both Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki are huge supporters of multi-level marketing, but they choose to call it Network Marketing. As far as they are concerned, network marketing is the only way to truly create an empire. Anyone who has intentions on becoming a multimillionaire must engage in network marketing. Such as it is, the definition of network marketing is to share an opportunity with another (or more accurately, many others) and receive compensation for introducing someone to this opportunity that they decide to take advantage of and leverage for their success.
It seems as though we prefer traditional methods of being paid for a hard days work, punching a clock and not messing with that whole traditional idea. It seems as though it is inconceivable to share an opportunity with someone else, whether it is the opportunity to start your own business, the opportunity to avail oneself of life changing products such as vitamins, herbal remedies, makeup, spa products, etc, and be compensated for helping someone improve their life. When mentioning the opportunity to start your own business and change your life, fire your boss, set your hours as you see fit, work as hard as you want (or not), I'm often met with frowns and suspicion as to "what my real motives are" as though I'm not above board and totally legitimate in my quest to build my own business by helping you improve your life, whether it is by starting your own business or purchasing one of my products.
It may be difficult but follow me here. Isn't this exactly what Obama just did with his brilliant multichannel media campaign? The only difference is, he wasn't offering us (his supporters) the opportunity to start our own business. He offered us-through his brilliant use of the internet and mobile texting-the opportunity to help him financially in order for us to have the opportunity to have him as our next President of the United States of America. Brilliant! So many of us bought into the idea of helping this person we felt was worthy of this help that he was able to raise $659 million dollars ($150 million in one month alone) that would enable him to get the word out to enough voters so as to bring about change of historical proportions. This, my friends, is network marketing at it's finest hour. I wonder if it can ever be done with this degree of success again. He didn't let up! The campaign was like a machine. From personal experience, once you gave to the campaign, they kept urging you to give again and again, even providing incentive (the rally tickets, improving the state of America, change, etc) to compel us (me) to keep digging in my pockets even when I knew I couldn't afford to because he compelled us (me and many like me) to believe in his mission.
I'm sure I've gone on far too long about this subject but my point is that there is more than one way to 'skin a cat' if you will. The traditional and current multichannel marketing methods seem to still be encased in one little area when there is so much more to be had.
We had a speaker a couple of weeks ago telling his story about the agony that most CMOs and Heads of Marketing go through when trying to determine who will get credit for a sale when there are various channels that the customer may have used before making the final purchase as well as the possibility of returns.
In Network Marketing, that is not an issue. Regardless of where the customer purchases or possibly returns the merchandise, the credit goes to the person with whom that customer began their relationship pertaining to the product. How? Simple. When the relationship is initiated with a consultant, that consultant has an ID number. If the customer makes a purchase, more than likely they will want to purchase from the person they initiated with (at least 90% of the time) due to comfort levels and most especially when a large purchase is involved. Upon purchase, credit is given to the ID number which belongs to a consultant who is usually on a team that leads to a director or head of marketing. The consultant gets credit for making the sale due to the ID and credit is also doled out to that consultant's 'upline' which could be a director, team leader, executive, etc. The same is true for a return. That credit would be taken away from the ID and upline. I'm not sure why this isn't the norm in traditional marketing but...doesn't it make sense?
I found this article referring to Obama and how his marketing campaign influenced the election. Check it out. http://www.google.com/bookmarks/url?url=http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/quelch/2008/11/how_better_marketing_elected_b.html&ei=pSEUSY6qK5qWMsL2oDA&sig2=642USb_VrVC-pFFMT5Te3g&ct=b
Both Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki are huge supporters of multi-level marketing, but they choose to call it Network Marketing. As far as they are concerned, network marketing is the only way to truly create an empire. Anyone who has intentions on becoming a multimillionaire must engage in network marketing. Such as it is, the definition of network marketing is to share an opportunity with another (or more accurately, many others) and receive compensation for introducing someone to this opportunity that they decide to take advantage of and leverage for their success.
It seems as though we prefer traditional methods of being paid for a hard days work, punching a clock and not messing with that whole traditional idea. It seems as though it is inconceivable to share an opportunity with someone else, whether it is the opportunity to start your own business, the opportunity to avail oneself of life changing products such as vitamins, herbal remedies, makeup, spa products, etc, and be compensated for helping someone improve their life. When mentioning the opportunity to start your own business and change your life, fire your boss, set your hours as you see fit, work as hard as you want (or not), I'm often met with frowns and suspicion as to "what my real motives are" as though I'm not above board and totally legitimate in my quest to build my own business by helping you improve your life, whether it is by starting your own business or purchasing one of my products.
It may be difficult but follow me here. Isn't this exactly what Obama just did with his brilliant multichannel media campaign? The only difference is, he wasn't offering us (his supporters) the opportunity to start our own business. He offered us-through his brilliant use of the internet and mobile texting-the opportunity to help him financially in order for us to have the opportunity to have him as our next President of the United States of America. Brilliant! So many of us bought into the idea of helping this person we felt was worthy of this help that he was able to raise $659 million dollars ($150 million in one month alone) that would enable him to get the word out to enough voters so as to bring about change of historical proportions. This, my friends, is network marketing at it's finest hour. I wonder if it can ever be done with this degree of success again. He didn't let up! The campaign was like a machine. From personal experience, once you gave to the campaign, they kept urging you to give again and again, even providing incentive (the rally tickets, improving the state of America, change, etc) to compel us (me) to keep digging in my pockets even when I knew I couldn't afford to because he compelled us (me and many like me) to believe in his mission.
I'm sure I've gone on far too long about this subject but my point is that there is more than one way to 'skin a cat' if you will. The traditional and current multichannel marketing methods seem to still be encased in one little area when there is so much more to be had.
We had a speaker a couple of weeks ago telling his story about the agony that most CMOs and Heads of Marketing go through when trying to determine who will get credit for a sale when there are various channels that the customer may have used before making the final purchase as well as the possibility of returns.
In Network Marketing, that is not an issue. Regardless of where the customer purchases or possibly returns the merchandise, the credit goes to the person with whom that customer began their relationship pertaining to the product. How? Simple. When the relationship is initiated with a consultant, that consultant has an ID number. If the customer makes a purchase, more than likely they will want to purchase from the person they initiated with (at least 90% of the time) due to comfort levels and most especially when a large purchase is involved. Upon purchase, credit is given to the ID number which belongs to a consultant who is usually on a team that leads to a director or head of marketing. The consultant gets credit for making the sale due to the ID and credit is also doled out to that consultant's 'upline' which could be a director, team leader, executive, etc. The same is true for a return. That credit would be taken away from the ID and upline. I'm not sure why this isn't the norm in traditional marketing but...doesn't it make sense?
I found this article referring to Obama and how his marketing campaign influenced the election. Check it out. http://www.google.com/bookmarks/url?url=http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/quelch/2008/11/how_better_marketing_elected_b.html&ei=pSEUSY6qK5qWMsL2oDA&sig2=642USb_VrVC-pFFMT5Te3g&ct=b
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