It was first the art of self-sufficiency and then the barter system. The barter trading system started with the Mesopotamia tribes as far back as 6000BC. It involved the exchange of goods by individuals. This system was used to get food, weapons, spices, goods and services. The barter system was later replaced by traditional marketing {market places} after the invention of money like coins and paper money. Traditional marketing refers to marketing that uses local methods/forms of selling goods and products whereby farmers, shop attendants and goods dealers put up shops, invite people to come and buy from them to make sales and promote their products. This method is true and genuine and more so, its simpler to reach the audience. The chances are high that if you get a client, they are most likely to buy. Traditional marketing involves having both a buyer and seller move from their residences to a market place where the exchange of goods and services is done. It also involves having established retail stores, outlets, warehouse, farmers markets and flea markets. With the advent of the internet, sales began to be made online. This method of sales has become quite popular especially amongst the tech savvy younger generation and in developed nations. However, there is still a large population of people who purchase items in the traditional way of visiting physical shops and markets.
Presently, we have a situation where customers adopt various channels of purchasing items. The sellers also have the options or placing their items online and/or placing them in physical shops. Those who don’t have physical shops of theirs have the option of seeking out shops and negotiating with the shop owners to allow them place their items there. The business relationship condition could be that the shop owners add their commission on the prices provided by the product owners as cost of using the space or the product owner pays for using the space. To possess a large scale placement and distribution of your products as a seller, one would need to have a strong network and relationship with multiple space owners. This is usually difficult to accomplish especially for SMEs and new product owners. The exception is fast moving products that have over time been considered as essentials. Amazon and Alibaba especially operated an ingenious concept where almost any product can be searched for, paid for and have delivered to any address of their choice. The future of sales rides on the concept that products can be searched for online and is conveniently available near you. It is built on a network of numerous interconnected retail points that is also connected online. So the future is a commodity map that can tell a customer where to get any product in real-time. This concept also provides the seller the platform to place his product at locations of their choice.
It’s a couple of steps higher than what’s available. This unique sales concept which is the Smart Selling Spaces model is what Axielle is delivering. We are making sales more effective and redesigning customer experience.
Henry Imoh
CEO, Axielle
