Author: Harinder, Co Founder Barterdaddy.com
Lately Online Barter platform is becoming a new revolution in the e-commerce industry
Before there was money, there was bartering, now barter is back with its new version, online bartering. The centuries-old art “barter” has taken a new modern spin with the advent of technology, ubiquity of smart phones & speed of inter-connectivity. Barterdaddy.com, a platform for online bartering is bringing back the aged old trait of exchange of goods. The online platform caters to all kinds of products and services including Real Estate, Automobiles, Electronic items like Mobiles, Tablets and Home items like furniture & fixtures. It is the country’s first networking marketplace for exchange of products.
Online platform can substantiate the barter system back. Whatever is useless for one can be useful for someone else or one can optimize capital investment by way of barter. This is especially true in case of Real Estate or Property market. Online exchange of goods fulfils many purposes like saving cash and time. Additionally, users get to meet new people while exchanging goods. On online bartering websites, users list items for swapping or exchange. Users can state what they are looking for in exchange of their listed item. The online goods and service exchange marketplace offers first mover advantage. There is a strong growth opportunity for the sector in Indian landscape.
Online bartering is an idea to re-invent barter trade system that had phased out a long time ago after money was introduced as a legal tender. It will introduce a dead concept to neoteric generation who had little or no idea about the aged old tradition. Customer behaviour wasn’t tailored to swapping but rather buying and owning. The biggest challenge the industry will have to face is changing the mindset of the people, to present to them a better alternative that has been overlooked for a very long time.
Online barter exchange is a platform that empowers individuals and businesses to connect and swap physical products and services. The very basic difference which barter shall make then selling your used goods is “selling undervalued” secondly the low-income problem affecting people in emerging markets that tends to leave them with very little or no cash to buy new items. These exchanges are offering a different and new trade option, which the traditional online marketplaces have overlooked, thereby cutting of millions of people from actively trading. Customers will be happy listing their items for swap instead of selling because they will receive a fair valued item in return; the need for no money to trade because everyone has either an item or skill they may want to swap. Selling items comes with its own bottlenecks such as incredibly low offers to buy offered by potential buyers etc.
In India barter or exchange of items is done a lot offline. People exchange their cars, plots of land, grains, eatables, trade one brand of mobile phone for another etc. The offline market, though not aggregated at one point happens across the entire length and breadth of the country. With this offline market swap in mind, a customer validation was performed across selected locations in metropolitans, for which, the response was very impressive. The current scenario is being substantiated by website like online exchange websites like barterdaddy.com, currently with 3500 users just within two months of its launch.
These platforms can leverage marketing and advertisement for better consumer response; through print and electronic media such as social media, newspapers, flyers and stickers. As the concept is new in the market, word of mouth marketing, social media and SMS advertisements will be of substantial assistance to grow larger user base. Online exchange of goods has a wide marketplace comprising of customer to customer business, business to customer business and business and business marketplace. The impact of social media in promoting goods exchange platform is massive. Social media has impacted the business positively because it provides an inexpensive marketing option that has far reach most traditional forms of media advertising. Social media provides better market traction; get more users in current market and opportunities to scale into other markets.
The newly emerged trend of online bartering will break the monopoly of money as the only legal trading tender and introduce the concept of barter or exchange or goods in many target markets. Online barter websites can form a new market where money will be rendered quite valueless. These platforms can bring forth other more substantial aspects of exchange such as skill and education. Through these websites even these services can be gained without spending money but by exchanging some other services or goods.
Innovations have been disruptions in the market and more ideas will be proffered in the market in coming times. Exchange of goods is not a new idea, but its online implementation is ingenious. This has the potential to create a whole new niche of business in the e commerce segment. However, the nuts and bolts of the business are to be strengthened to attract more consumers to such platforms. Technology, again, will play a major role in the pursuance of this segment as a prominent niche.
