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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Online Vs. Offline


When comparing a typical brick-and-mortar galley to an online art gallery, the biggest advantage is indeed of the 24 hours availability of the store. All thanks to Tim Berners Lee, that today the World Wide Web is widely used to create virtual stores for selling practically everything, any time of the year, season, week or day. Second is the reach.

Though, the real world craft fairs are hugely popular, but the reach to far fetch places is just beyond them. On the other hand, online stores could be restricted to just few geographies initially, but their success and word-of-mouth publicity propels them to become a part of each and every individual in every part of the world. Thirdly, and most importantly, it saves a lot of capital for all. Renting a display arena on the internet is much cheaper than a physical one. The capital expenditure on the retail constitutes a major portion. The ultimate retail cost of a handmade art at any physical gallery is mainly made up of the retail expenditures.

Whereas, using the website as a location saves the huge display costs involved in showcasing the products. On the other hand, the physical feel of the product is substituted by larger than life pictures of them. Also the detailed information do away with all the questions pertaining to the products that a customer might have regarding before the purchase of products. Most of the online art gallery also facilitates interactions between the buyers and sellers, leading to reducing all the barriers to trade a minimum. That allows the craftsmen to get involved with the prospective buyers in their purchasing decisions, leading to smoother transactions, thus reducing disputes after the payments and shipping.

Location does not come anywhere as a barrier to the online trade for the intricate arts and crafts. In fact with the advent of payment gateways, the estranged effect of the payment currency is also done away with. The buyers and sellers can negotiate within themselves to deal in the currency that they find feasible. In fact with the universal payment gateway products like Paypal, transactions happen within no time in practically any currency in this World. But for the entire mankind, the biggest advantage still remains the access to the cross cultural diversity on this Earth. The products from Africa like the handmade art made on an Ostrich egg can now be accessible to someone sitting in Adelaide in few days, and that too without preparing a cumbersome travel itinerary to Africa. This is the magnificence of being a part of the revolution called online art gallery.

1 comment:

  1. loved it.. and I often browse online stores..have ordered from some and just wowed at some..

    Glad to have found you at Indiblogger. your newest follower and aregular visitot now
    cheers
    kajal

    ReplyDelete

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