Breaching Location Silos: An Exploration of social media optimisation by SMMEs in Southern Africa

Published ArticleThis study explores the significance of social media as e-marketplaces for advancing e-commerce for small scale, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) in the southern African sub-region – notably in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Evidence from the examination of extant literature and our personal observations reveal that when properly harnessed as e-marketplaces, social media platforms, especially those that are compatible with mobile devices (i.e. smart mobile phones, tablets and notebooks), have tremendous e-commerce potential to enhance brand awareness, market growth, and market share for firms, thereby augmenting and expediting the management of customer relationships and brand loyalty. These benefits have the potential to trigger innovative marketing, brand positioning and creativity for SMMEs in South Africa and Zimbabwe. The main theoretical contribution of this study is the development of a conceptual model of social media that promotes SMME growth especially considering the large percentage of youth with a large appetite for new technology. Therefore, active engagement on social media could breach (the current) location silos," by tapping into the diaspora market

Junk international: the symbolic drug trade

Spectacular value-adding between third-world production sites and first-world retail marketplaces; the entrapment of indigenous workers in cycles of low-pay dependence and intimidation; ruthless profit maximization; the easy penetration of sovereign economic zones; altered social habits and habitual consumerism in such zones; the flow of untaxable cash from local economies to off-shore finance centers; local franchising as the agency of aggressive, transnational cartels or monopolies - all these characterize globalization. They also describe the processes of the international drug trade, the commerce in 'junk', which William S. Burroughs recognized in The Naked Lunch (1959) as the very model of a colonizing capitalism at its most efficient pitch

Factors that affect the use of public marketplaces : (case studes on the importance and factors that affect the use of government-established marketplaces in Dili, Timor-Leste : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the Masterate in International Development Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Since Timor-Leste became independent in 2002, the government has made a number of significant efforts to improve the living conditions of the people. Among the efforts is the initiative for establishing or building public marketplaces throughout the country, including in Dili, the capital city of Timor-Leste. Through these public marketplaces, the government expects that people, especially lower income earners, and the poor, will engage in basic economic activities that eventually contribute to better their social and economic life. Despite this well intentioned initiative, many of these public marketplaces have been observed to be underused. Indeed, in Dili, a number of local media reported or raised the issue of vendors’ and buyers’ dissatisfaction and abandonment of government-established public markets, particularly over the past four years. This study, hence, intends to find out what has been actually going on. By focusing on two government-established marketplaces in Dili as qualitative case studies, this study explored market stakeholders’ perceptions on the importance of a public marketplace and factors that may affect the use of such a market. Specifically, this study investigated market stakeholders’ views regarding the government’s initiative for establishing or building public marketplaces, the factors that affect the use of a public marketplace, and how vendors and buyers were involved or participated in the planning process for establishing public marketplaces. This study has found that market stakeholders in general welcomed the government’s initiative for establishing a public marketplace for various reasons. A public marketplace can serve important functions such as a source of livelihood and economic income, particularly for lower income earners and the poor. Dili’s public marketplaces have also provided a mechanism for strengthening, or promoting public order and hygiene, and can be used as a means for pubiic meeting, public education and promoting social cohesion. This study also discovered various factors that affected the use of public marketplaces in Dili. These factors include non-strategic location of public marketplaces: they are far from the population centers and the main roads, and poor transport options. There had been a lack of basic facilities, such as water, electricity and toilets. The security situation in public marketplaces had been non-conducive for doing transactions; procedures for accessing vending stalls in public markets had been unclear and issues of corrupt officials. Furthermore, the vendors’ attitude and custom of selling practices and no participation of vendors and buyers in the planning process for establishing a public marketplace also affected the use of a public marketplace. Based on the findings and discussion, the study concludes that the presence of the government’s public marketplace is important as it has values economically, socially and environmentally. The study also concludes that the interdependences of market facilities (for example, availability of running water, electricity and toilet), location or distance of a market to vendors and buyers, clear regulations, better management, and the involvement of stakeholders, particularly vendors in the planning process for establishing a public marketplace should become the principal guidance in order to optimize the effectiveness of a public marketplace. By taking into consideration these important principles, the problems of abandonment of a public marketplace may be prevented

Exploring the factors affecting the use of C2C in Colombia

This study analyses the factors that users of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) commerce value as direct influences in the intention to use and the acceptance of a marketplace. An empirical model is formulated, which integrates three variables that evaluate trust and, in turn, other variables that influence C2C intention and purchases, taking a sample of 686 surveys gathered using the Internet in Colombia. The results show that trust is a fundamental factor in this type of electronic commerce in Colombia, given that C2C users seek intermediation pages with third-party recognition (TPR) and high web quality; similarly, key variables in the adoption of this type of commercial platform include finding low prices and social influence. The perception of trust in this type of electronic commerce is a broader concept that requires the analysis of psychosocial factors. For companies that manage marketplaces, this study allows them to focus on key actions and tools in their websites. This study allowsone to get to know the users of this transactional system, specifically for the Latin American region, highlighting the variables that they most consider when engaging in direct commerce between people. The results show that C2C requires marketplaces that guarantee the necessary conditions for a purchase/sale transaction with trust and quality

Increasing online shop revenues with web scraping: a case study for the wine sector

Purpose – Wine has been produced for thousands of years and nowadays we have seen a spread in the wine culture. E-commerce sales of wine have increased considerably and online customer’s satisfaction is influenced by quality and price. This paper presents a case study of the company “QuieroVinos, S.L.”, an online wine shop founded in 2015 that sells Spanish wines in two main marketplaces. Design/methodology/approach – With the final target of increasing the company profits it has been designed and developed an application to track the prices of competitors for a set of products. This information will be used to set the product prices in order to offer the products both competitively and profitably in each Marketplace. This application must check, by tacking into account information such as the product cost or the minimum product margin, if it is possible to decrease the price in order to reach the top cheapest position and as a consequence, increase the sales. Findings – The application improved in a notorious way the company’s results in terms of sales and shipping costs. It must be said that without the use of the presented application, performing the price comparison process within each one of the marketplaces would have taken a long time. Moreover, as prices change very frequently, the obtained information has a very limited time value, and the competitors prices should be analyzed daily in order to take accurate decisions regarding the company’s price policy. Originality/value – Although the application has been designed for the wine sector and the two named marketplace, it could be exported to other sectors. For that, it should be implemented new modules to collect information regarding the competitor’s price of the products selling on each corresponding marketplaceThis work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under contract TIN2017- 84553-C2-2-R. Also, the authors are members of the research group 2017-SGR363, funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya

Trademark Vigilance in the Twenty-First Century: An Update

The trademark laws impose a duty upon brand owners to be vigilant in policing their marks, lest they be subject to the defense of laches, a reduced scope of protection, or even death by genericide. Before the millennium, it was relatively manageable for brand owners to police the retail marketplace for infringements and counterfeits. The Internet changed everything. In ways unforeseen, the Internet has unleashed a tremendously damaging cataclysm upon brands—online counterfeiting. It has created a virtual pipeline directly from factories in China to the American consumer shopping from home or work. The very online platforms that make Internet shopping so convenient, and that have enabled brands to expand their sales, have exposed buyers to unwittingly purchasing fake goods which can jeopardize their health and safety as well as brand reputation. This Article updates a 1999 panel discussion titled Trademark Vigilance in the Twenty-First Century, held at Fordham Law School, and explains all the ways in which vigilance has changed since the Internet has become an inescapable feature of everyday life. It provides trademark owners with a road map for monitoring brand abuse online and solutions for taking action against infringers, counterfeiters and others who threaten to undermine brand value

e-Factors in e-Agribusiness

The Internet offers new opportunities for small businesses to conquer new markets and to find better and cheaper suppliers. Internet-based commerce is widely perceived as the new business logic that operates in a world without boundaries; a world characterized by speed, change, interactivity and connectivity. In this global commercial environment, e-business models appear to be the central conceptual component. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are changing the way in which companies trade with their suppliers and customers. The growing complexity of the food sector drives companies to adopt more sophisticated and effective e-business solutions. If we intend to adopt an e-business solution we have to consider more “e-factors” such as technological, individual, organizational, industrial and societal aspects

BEYOND INSTITUTION-BASED TRUST: BUILDING EFFECTIVE ONLINE MARKETPLACES WITH SOCIAL MECHANISMS

Researchers have devoted considerable efforts to design effective online marketplaces, especially with respect to the institutional structures believed to establish buyer trust in the community of sellers. Comparatively speaking, the effectiveness of social mechanisms, although practically evidenced as important, has received much less attention in e-commerce research. In the current study we explore the contribution of social mechanisms–specifically IT-enabled instant messaging, the message box, online community and informal coalition programme–to effective online marketplaces. We propose that these mechanisms facilitate social relationships and trust building processes during transactions, in addition to the existing institutional structures. When consumerto- consumer (C2C) transactions are considered risky, the buyer-seller social relationship is more critical for buyers when forming their transaction intentions. The research model is largely supported by a pilot study of 104 buyers of TaoBao.com, China’s C2C leading marketplace. We discuss the findings, implications, and our preparations for a large-scale study