| This research aims to investigate the practices and business strategies used by clothing brands in the Chinese online marketplace Taobao.The purpose is to identify the signals and strategies that successful online clothing brands use,and that differentiate a high performance sellers from a low performance seller.The research topic provides interest to all the online community that uses the Internet as a means of product commercialization,and especially to those who aim to establish their own online businesses.Nevertheless,it is significant to realize a research that focuses on the seller's perspective,instead of the buyer's perspective,which is the case of most related studies.Moreover,the research gathers a complete list of successful proven practices and strategies used by online sellers,that has never been developed before.Purpose: The use and importance of the Internet has increased radically over the years,which has led to a change on the way goods are commercialized.E-auction companies,such as e Bay and Taobao,have gained force and continue to develop quickly.This new business model has certainly changed commerce for many companies and individuals.The growth of e-marketplaces is followed by the tough competition between online vendors.Many businesses,from small family companies to big corporations,have realized the potential of the Internet auctions to strengthen their business.Moreover,the great amount and easy accessibility to the information on the Internet,has strengthened the buyers? position in these e-marketplaces.Online sellers,have therefore,been in the need to develop and implement different practices and strategies that could allow them to stay ahead of the increasingly fierce competition,and to deal with information asymmetry,characteristic of today's e-marketplaces.Understanding the nature and extent of the signals and strategies used by successful emarketplace sellers will help existing and new online retailers assess their potential as third party auction user,guide online sales efforts towards their own websites and finally help them develop the best online business model for their company.This research focuses on the proven effective practices and strategies used by online sellers who have operative business running successfully in Chinese e-marketplace Taobao.The study presents a comparison between the signals and strategies used by high and low performance online clothing shops.The purpose of this paper is to determine and present a complete list of signals and strategies,which can serve as a guide to millions of brands that seek to open their way and succeed in the challenging and highly competitive environment that the online marketplace offers.Source: The focal topic is the e-market seller's success,hence online marketplace vendors would provide significant answers regarding practices and strategies used by them for Internet sales.It is relevant for this research to evaluate the signals and strategies used by both successful and unsuccessful online shops,in order to compare and understand the factors that affect sales performance and lead to positive results.To accomplish the purpose of the research,interviews and direct observation were applied in order to obtain first-hand information.This allowed the researcher to get insightful responses from online marketplace vendors,and reinforced the study's comprehension out of their valuable perspective.Methods: This research paper conducts three stages: First,relevant literature review that mainly covers Taobao auction platform,signals and strategies used by online businesses.The literature review was used for designing the interview format.Second,the interviews were executed to a total of 27 participants,15 high performance sellers and 12 low performance sellers.The interviews were conducted via telephone and Skype.And third,direct observation of the actions carried out by the 27 Taobao shops,during a period of three months,as to ensure the information received,as well as complement the data.Findings: Identifying those signals and strategies used by both,successful and unsuccessful online clothing sellers in Taobao e-marketplace,then,comparing and making a difference between high and low performance Taobao's clothing shop,and finally,understanding and recognizing those practices that impact positively sales performance,represents the final outcome,thus,determines the significance of the paper approach.The interviews with Taobao clothing sellers,cross-referenced and complemented with the direct observation findings,provide this study with valuable first-hand information and results that show those practices and strategies that differentiate high and low performance sellers.Therefore,the conclusions are summarized as follows:Generally speaking,there are three main factors that must be taken into account for those online clothing sellers that intend to create a successful business in Taobao e-marketplace.These are: a good product(regarding quality,utility,innovation and other),effective proven signals and strategies and enough time to develop the online business strategy.No seller has obtained an immediate success in Taobao.For a shop to start getting positive and profitable results it requires a period of time long enough for it to develop and implement a combination of signals and strategies.This will allow then to shorten the development process and keep growing.The competition is huge and fierce,but worthy.Regarding signals,warranties and website security are basics.Every Taobao shop offers them,because they are required by buyers in order to make a purchase decision.They are actually used by all,high and low performance sellers.Warranties are seen by buyers as a guarantee of product reliability.At least the most basic warranties should be offered,namely a 7-days “no questions asked “return policy.Moreover,it is essential to assure clients a safe purchase environment,offering several payment methods as for instance: Alipay,Chinese and major international credit/debit cards.These signals are not considered to improve sales,and to differentiate from other shops,but not having them is not an option.Website quality and reputation are signals that definitively play an important role in creating a successful business.An attractive website catches potential customers' attention.High performance sellers pay special attention on creating visually appealing websites with a clear,reliable and valuable information that can be adapted to both,computers and cellphones screens.At the same time,all practices and efforts to keep high qualifications and positive ratings from clients are carried out.Definitively,the main differences between high performance and low performance vendors are in the use of product,pricing and promotion strategies.High performance sellers invest significant resources and time in implementing effective strategies that differentiate their shops and products from others,while low performance sellers don?t.These strategies aim to attract customers by offering high quality and attractive products.Product variety and a constant turnover of inventory to adapt to the customers' needs and industry changes are very much appreciated.Regarding price,the wisest strategy is to rely on any kind of significant competitive advantage in order to keep a profitable pricing policy.The lack of promotion strategies implementation is probably the main issue among low performance sellers.It is considered by top online vendors the best way of making their Taobao shop and products stand out and differentiate from millions of other clothing sellers.Taobao offers effective packages of online advertisement that must be taken into consideration.The use of SEO,to help situate a shop in an advantageous position within the e-market platform,the presence in the social media and use of the online community,the use of cross media marketing and the implementation of revenue-sharing marketing programs are strategies that clothing sellers should implement wisely to increase their chances of becoming a successful online seller. |
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