Unveiling Market Space: Strategic Tips for Elevating Your Business Marketing
Last update: 5 April 2024 at 01:03 pm
3.67/5Move over brick-and-mortar shops and storefronts. The new market space is here! You have probably been marketing your business and working to grow your online presence.
During this time, you have probably heard the term market space used. As it is used now, the term market space is a relatively new concept that’s been increasingly popular with the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
But, knowing how this space works and how you can use it to market and grow your business may appear confusing.
We will be clearing up the mystery. Explain what the market space is and how you can use it to advertise your business and make a few sales along the way.
Key Takeaways
- Market Space: Online platforms like eBay and Etsy facilitate sales without physical stores.
- Components: Buyers, sellers, intermediaries, products, operations, infrastructure, interface, and support.
- Marketing: Use online platforms to reach more customers, optimize products, and distinguish your brand.
- Advantages: Access to existing demand, 24/7 availability, secure payments, and cost savings.
- Loyalty: Building loyalty is challenging due to limited interaction, but strong branding helps.
- New Markets: Innovate within existing markets or create new ones to attract customers.
What Do We Mean by Market Space in Online Business?
Market space is an online retailer that allows other businesses to sell their products on a virtual platform.
Market space refers to a virtual market for the commercial world.
It comprises micro-blogging sites, e-commerce platforms, or any other bi-directional platforms. Here, buyers and sellers can make purchases and sales through these portals.
Two well-known websites related to market spaces are eBay and Etsy. At the same time, lesser-known platforms make up the virtual space, such as Twitter and Quicker.com.
There are specific characteristics that make up a market space. One such characteristic is that sales and transactions take place through online media and payment portals.
Also, a face-to-face transaction is unavailable as electronic media does not support it. If you are interested in a product, information is immediately available in the market space.
You can browse the available products until you find the one you want. Also, since this is a virtual platform, there are no physical showrooms or storefronts – a virtual shop replaces these.
Apart from marketplaces, you can also build your online business on an eCommerce platform or start selling on multiple channels by integrating your marketplaces with eCommerce platforms, such as integrating Etsy with Shopify.
What Components Make Up a Market Space
Buyers
The power rests with the buyer. So many potential buyers search the internet for products and services in the virtual market space.
Sellers
The market space would not exist without sellers. Sellers are actively marketing their businesses to attract old and new customers to their online stores.
Intermediaries
These provide various services on the web. This can include setting up the infrastructure of market spaces, matching buyers and sellers, and assisting them in completing the transaction.
Products
The products available in online market spaces are only limited by your imagination. But you cannot interact with the physical goods.
If you have ever browsed an e-commerce site such as eBay, you know the product range is extensive and spread across various industries.
Back-end
This is a crucial part of the successful functioning of any online store. These include activities such as order fulfillment, packaging payment processing, delivery, inventory management, and more.
Infrastructure
The core of it all. These include networks, hardware, and software.
Front-end
This is how you interact with the market space. It includes the processes such as the cart, catalog, sellers portal, payment gateway, and search engine.
Support services
Another crucial part of any virtual marketplace. These include certification to ensure security and other trust services.
The objective of a virtual market place is to sell a product or service to a wide audience of web-savvy consumers.
Whenever you sell a product or service, you also need to support your clients.
You can do this directly through the market space platform you use. The same goes for handling any customer service issue that may arise.
Another goal that can be achieved by using a market space for your business is that it allows you to build strong branding. And we all know how vital brand awareness is for the growth of any business.
What is Market Space Marketing?
The market space where physical boundaries are not a concern opens up a whole new world of marketing opportunities. Using market space for your business can make a difference to your marketing campaign.
You are given business through the site as you are on a trusted platform that receives a large amount of traffic daily. If you put in place good optimization strategies for your products and services, then using a market space can be one of the quickest ways to expand your footprint and online profile.
This can be difficult as market spaces are filled with competitors. As such, knowing your audience, sticking with your brand, and having a unique selling proposition (USP) that edges you out from the rest is essential.
Marketspace vs Marketplace
The difference between marketplace and marketspace is very basic.
A traditional marketplace has a physical location. Here buyers and sellers meet face-to-face and create conversations around the products or services. The customers are allowed to ask questions and physically see and feel the products before deciding to purchase.
In contrast, the market space has no physical boundaries. It is an online platform where customers can browse the catalog with your offerings and make online purchases through an online payment portal. There is much less interaction between the buyer and seller.
Advantages of Market Space for Your Business?
There are many advantages to using a market space to promote your company and establish an online presence and brand.
24h Store For High Demand
For one, a strong market already exists, so you don’t have to create demand from scratch.
The process of selling through a market space is also more fast-paced as consumers can immediately start browsing your products when they are loaded, with no operating hours, and sales can be made quickly at any time. Many customers prefer shopping from digital multi-vendor marketplaces rather than physical stores.
Market spaces also offer dedicated customer support 24/7, so you can rest assured that someone will help if a problem arises.
Easy Payments and Savings on Costs
Another advantage for your company in the market space is that the platform usually has payment escrow services.
This makes a transaction on the site simple and secure. The shopping experience for consumers is also much easier and more convenient as you can shop from the comfort of your home or with a few clicks. And since the Internet is available in most places, you can also shop from anywhere.
Finally, one of the biggest advantages is that upkeep costs are much lower than maintaining a traditional brick-and-mortar storefront or paying to attend other electronic and conventional markets.
You will save on transportation, stocking, store rent, and upkeep expenses, amongst others.
How About Customer Loyalty?
There’s no denying that building customer loyalty on a market space platform is extremely difficult as the consumers are usually not regular visitors.
But, if you have a substantial advertising strategy in place and sell products with high value and quality, building a strong, dedicated following is possible.
But, it may take more effort on the seller’s part. Etsy is a good example of a platform where sellers still manage to build relationships with their customers and build a loyal and robust brand following.
Disadvantages of Market Space
As with any online platform where the service relies on the internet, there are a few potential disadvantages to consider.
Since market space is a virtual shopping platform, there is no way for consumers to try the product before buying it, and you have to rely on the information posted by the seller. In some cases, this can be vague or lacking.
Also, since no sales employees are available to guide consumers, you rely on other factors to make a sale.
There is no direct communication between the buyer and seller; in most cases, any communication is directed to the platform. The competition is also much higher than in a traditional marketplace.
What Is New Market Space?
All businesses have competitors that they measure their progress against. A business’s progress can be measured in either incremental improvements in cost, quality or sometimes both.
But, the competition can sometimes become quite cut-throat. This is where some businesses set out to create a new market space that sets them apart from other competitors.
This is not always easy to do and requires a change of mindset so that you can see opportunities where others do not instead of thinking inside the box and only looking at the conventional markets within your industry. Try widening your gaze to see potential avenues for innovation.
Creating a new market space within the virtual world of retail is extremely important. There is so much competition online. You will need something that sets you apart from the rest and will attract customers. If you can’t catch a potential buyer’s attention within the first few seconds of their browsing, you may lose the sale.
Final Thoughts
Market space is a great platform. Companies can sell their products online using computers, smartphones, or tablets. It is a convenient way for shoppers to search for what they want from the comfort of their homes. It’s also a way that companies can grow their online presence and get exposure to large pools of traffic.
