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Business in virtual marketplace(Daily Frontier Post (Afghanistan) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Technological sophistication has shrunk the world today to the point that our location is always traceable regardless of the geographic barriers that once kept us apart,. We already have had enough experience with the Global Positioning System (GPS) and a number of other applications on our handsets employed frequently to trace our general location. The advent of the Bluetooth technology was another stride ahead, since it enabled our iPhones and other Android devices to determine our location with yet greater precision and accuracy. The cutting edge technology has already entered in the retail activities of many leading firms. The resultant merger of technology with the current business activities the world over, in turn, ensures improved business performance, better interaction between manufacturers and their potential clients and above all enhanced customer satisfaction. Most world class businesses therefore seem to have ushered in an era of niche marketing that offers customization of products often exactly according to the individualized preferences of the end users. Having one-to-one contact often allows retailers the advantage of on-the-spot customers handling and quite often pelting them with the needed information and special offers simply to influence their purchase decisions. In the process of up-selling customers, companies collect important data which can be melded with other facts to gain valuable insights into buyers shopping habits and above all their tastes and preferences. How\'s all this happening? The requisite technology being already put into our iPhones, retailers simply have to tap into it small, low-cost transmitters called beacons. Using the built-in Bluetooth technology of our handsets, the beacons can pinpoint our position to within 2 cm by receiving signals from the beacons stores. Many applications of the new technology have already been marketed. For instance, Apple\'s version of the concept, called iBeacon, is in use at its own stores and is also being increasingly tested and applied by multinationals such as Macy\'s, American Eagle and Safeway. Some leading sports giants joining the race include: the National Football League and Major League Baseball. There are yet some more leaps in the offing. Businesses, such as PayPal, are already considering a beacon that allows consumers to pay for goods even without swiping a card or removing phones from their pockets. The e-commerce activities ensure safe transactions because companies, though they make use of GPS to determine location of their customers, can\'t however peep into their privacies unless access granted. All that the retailers aim at is to serve their clients with digital coupons offering the right piece of information as they shop amid the aisles in supermarkets. Contrary to the traditional practices that relied extensively on the physical presence of businesses to attract customers for daily productivity, modern e-commerce activities entail distant digital advertising and computer based marketing, selling and procurement. In the domain, determining position of the customers and approaching them via electronic means to boost sales are the latest developments. While e-commerce is a predominant trend of the day, businesses in developing societies like Pakistan still seem to be suffering from the pangs of initial transitory stage. Despite phenomenal increase of web users and mobile subscribers in Pakistan, the number of customers switching over to digital shopping experience however still remains scanty. So long as consumers keep sticking to traditional buying practices, businesses in Pakistan can\'t upgrade their practices to meet standards of digitization. There are also technological pitfalls such as dearth of 3g and 4g mobile communication services in Pakistan. However, given the situation where consumers mostly exhibit traditional buying behavior, any attempt at up-gradation would mean nothing except forcing the current businesses to focus on customers already familiar with digitized environment, even though they constitute only a small fraction of the entire consumer market. As an early prerequisite, we can begin with making our people realize the importance and benefits of e-commerce. The stage where businesses employ the tracking technology at their own for up-selling customers is too elusive as yet. To meet the minimum standards of the digital business environment, we need change of attitudes apart from putting appropriate technology in place. The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Government Post Graduate College, Abbottabad |