Jerome Thomas
The Internet as we know it is not even a teenager yet. The first graphical browser was Netscape 1.0 Beta1, which was released to a limited number of users in October of 1994. The final release of Netscape 1.0 broke out of its shell in December of 1994. Thus, the Internet as we know it was born.
Shortly after the release of Netscape came one of the first big players on the Internet. In 1995, Yahoo! was founded, and is one of the first major internet properties that is still under operated as it was in its early days. Yahoo! search is still one of the biggest search engines in the world, comfortably sitting as one of the Big Three.
In 1996, the world got its first taste of Ebay, the auction site.
Then in 1997, another garage enterprise set forth to conquer the Internet with the founding of Amazon.
Netscape still survives today, as the redheaded stepchild of AOL.
The other three players, Yahoo!, Ebay, and Amazon are huge. They survived the Dot Com Bust Era of 2000 to 2001. All three still seem to have a solid future in front of them. They have been rewarded well for their endeavors, and they have bought many of their smaller competitors to ensure that they could stand alone at the top of the pile.
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM THESE TOP THREE SURVIVORS
All these three of these companies serve the consumer market, and they continue to offer great value to their users. They grow and they grow, but they have never really lost sight of their target market.
AltaVista lost its way. Yahoo! now owns it! In April of 2003, Overture acquired AltaVista, and in July of 2003, Yahoo! acquired Overture.
Yahoo! purchased Overture, because they knew it would help them to deliver small business advertising to their search users.
Paypal was created in 1998. In 2002, Ebay purchased Paypal because it would help their auction buyers and sellers transact business more easily.
Amazon soaked up many smaller web retail companies in order to widen their retail empire. For all intent purposes, they have succeeded.
These Internet companies have become huge, because they never lost sight of the desires of their customer base. They kept their eye on the ball, and never lost sight of their goals --- their goals to serve the needs and wants of their customer base.
They have also enlarged their customer base, by acquiring smaller companies that could offer more to their target customer base.
THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC OF THESE COMPANIES
You might be thinking that these companies are as successful as they are, because they bought up all of their competitors. Yes, that did help them to grow at astonishing rates. But, the important thing to realize is that they had to have a nice bankroll to finance the purchase of these companies in the first place.
The developed their hefty bankrolls by providing products and services that people actually wanted to buy.
As a small business or individual wanting to make a few extra dollars, you must always keep the mindset of offering people what they want to buy, at a price they want to pay.
Your only question is how to show your products and services to buyers.
THERE ARE MANY VENUES FOR SHOWING YOUR PRODUCTS & SERVICES
To sell your products online, you have lots of choices.
Ebay makes a commission on every product they sell. I don't fault them for that. What I do fault them for is that if I sell the product for $10, I pay one rate. And, if I sell the product for $100, I pay another rate. You might be thinking that their sliding scale system is like a percentage commission. And if you were, you would be right.
But, I cannot help but to think that they only need to make a dollar off of my transaction in order to be profitable. And yet, they will only take a dollar if I sell a $10 item. If I sell a $100 item, they will take more for the transaction, but they still only need one dollar to break even. The profits that I make on my transaction should be MINE and NOT THEIRS.
Am I right about that?
No wonder Ebay was big enough to buy the largest online payment provider on the Internet, in 2002. Ebay is a cash cow. And if you sell your products at Ebay, your cash is their cow.
MIMICKING YOUR COMPETITION IS A FOOL'S GAME
Every year, new companies come online offering new products and services to their target market.
Some companies come along and try to duplicate the success of those before them. I cannot tell you how many Ebay copycats I have seen online since 1996. The silly thing about trying to duplicate the success of the big boys is that you can never duplicate their success. You do not have their reputation, customer base, bankroll, or momentum.
I have seen other companies come along and try to under price the companies whose success they are trying to tap into. The silly thing about this approach is that the companies they are trying to mimic may be higher-priced because they truly understand what it takes to operate their particular business model. Cheaper, Johnny-come-lately companies might survive their first year, but they seldom survive their second year. They fail because they misunderstood the cost of operating within the niche they chose to mimic.
This reminds me of a quote in American politics, circa 1988. The future Vice President Dan Quayle thought it wise to copycat another great American leader. Many people gave him grief because of his young age. So, in response, Dan Quayle often made the age comparison between himself and John F. Kennedy Jr. He honestly felt that his young age should not be a campaign issue, so he always pointed to Kennedy's age, when he ran for President.
In a debate between Dan Quayle, and his counterpart Lloyd Benson, Dan Quayle learned the error of his ways. Quayle made the mistake of mentioning John Kennedy during the debate. And Lloyd Benson blew him out of the water with, "I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
Just as Dan Quayle was "no Jack Kennedy", your website is not an Ebay.
THERE IS ALWAYS A BETTER WAY
The secret to competing in a marketplace that is strongly dominated by one company is to cut out your own little niche of their marketplace.
There are certain people that are not happy with the way that the big boys operate their businesses. If you can figure out why people are unhappy with the big boys, then you will have found yourself your own niche in a similar marketplace.
Build your niche near to the one you want to become, and answer to the customers who are so far unsatisfied with what the big boys are offering.
You will never be successful if you stand there and tell the world, "Look at me, I am just like Ebay."
Instead, you will be successful by telling the world, "This is why I am different and better than Ebay."
Good luck in all that you do.
Jerome Thomas
About the Author:
Jerome Thomas is the owner of Fast Free Ads.
If you have a product to sell, new or used, then please visit Jerome's website to place your ad. You are allowed to show pictures with your advertisement and description. You do not pay until your product has sold, and we request only a small preset price as our commission, no matter the amount of the sell price. You can buy products cheaper at http://www.FastFreeAds.com , because we keep the cost of selling, low for our merchants. Affiliate Program is available.
