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Hotel Supply Web Site Is The Perfect Example Of The Advantages Of Online Shopping |
Article Submitted by: axis house
Wednesday, 02 December 2009
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The
story of the rise of retail sales on the Internet is the story of
specialization and the concept of author Chris Anderson's "Long Tail." While
some stores have enjoyed success selling a wide range of material online (think
of amazon.com as a classic example, although it did get its start as purely a
book retailer), the most significant growth has been among retailers that sell
something very specialized like hotel supplies, batteries or solar power
inverters. As Anderson points out, purchasers of products like these are relatively uncommon. Think of your family and friends and consider how many of them have bought a solar power inverter or hotel supplies lately. However, many people among this group have bought groceries, a DVD or clothes in the past few months, and that's why stores selling these products are common. Traditional brick and mortar stores are built wherever the concentration of customers in the local area will generate sufficient business to pay or rent, staffing and warehouse space. So you see lots of grocery stores, but not very many hotel supply stores. That doesn't mean there isn't a demand for these less frequently purchased goods though; in fact, there can be very high demand for the products. But the people who need to buy them are spread around and unlikely to be concentrated enough to justify the building of a traditional store. To satisfy the needs of the "Long Tail" customers, the Internet has been perfect. Retailers can operate through a single warehouse and stock a huge range of specialized merchandise, offer a web-based storefront that allows customers from around the world to shop, and ship the products to them. This means a company selling only books, computers or hotel supplies can thrive, even though the customer base is widely scattered. For a very relevant example, I'd suggest looking at hotelsuppliesonline.tripod.com, an American web retailer catering to a very specific customer segment: companies and individuals who wish to buy supplies and products associated with hotel and motel operations. A quick scan shows the company stocks thousands of products, including housekeeping supplies, janitorial supplies, guest room amenities and offers the ability for hotels to have their logo printed on products that guests would see. A physical hotel supply store would have to be a small operation due to limited customers, but this web retailer is able to leverage Internet connected customers and much lower operating expenses to stock a huge range of products, make customization available, and offer lower prices. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
About The Author:
Andrea Johannson teaches marketing at the college level and has recently written a case study about online hotel supplies as the perfect example of why specialized web retailers make sense. During the lectures that formed the basis for Professor Johannson's study, students found that retailers whose clients are scattered around the country, such as the case in the hotel supply industry, are primary adopters of web-based retail.
Andrea Johannson teaches marketing at the college level and has recently written a case study about online hotel supplies as the perfect example of why specialized web retailers make sense. During the lectures that formed the basis for Professor Johannson's study, students found that retailers whose clients are scattered around the country, such as the case in the hotel supply industry, are primary adopters of web-based retail.
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