Individuals as Brands
The last decade witnessed meteoric rise of “gig platforms” wherein platforms such as Food delivery(Swiggy, Doordash) , Cab rides(Uber) & household tasks(UrbanCompany) intermediated various services. The majority of gig workers are , though , non-differentiated & non-skilled. This allowed platforms to create aggregation, discovery & trust mechanisms ( Ratings) of such workers. Subsequently, these platforms have now started extracting more & more rent from such workers once the requisite scale was achieved.
This offers a cautionary tale for Business Owners today to consider. The goals of “large platforms” & “independent Business Owners/Workers” are at odds with each other. Intermediary platforms have desired incentive to keep Third party sellers on its platforms as much commoditised as possible & reduce their direct connect with end customers.
This is also applicable to e- commerce platforms such as Amazon/Flipkart. No matter how much your product is unique & differentiated, end customers can hardly view/notice the 3rd party seller details. This is not by accident. You are buried under Amazon brand for a purpose.
Additional risks is such platforms creating rival product by simply viewing internal data on what/which product is working, list similar products against yours own & undercutting you on price.
Your listing itself is at the mercy of algorithm of such platforms. There is proof that such platforms keep its “preferred sellers” higher in search results ranking. For reference, only 35 sellers account for 2/3rd of goods sold out of 4 lakh listed sellers on Amazon. Most of such sellers are Amazon’s own preferred sellers.
While alternates such as Shopify are available to avoid such risks. There are 2 major challenges with such alternates :-
Such platforms are expensive & will not be feasible for small online sellers with limited volume.
Many of the alternates today still focus on “Catalogue Driven” approach of Online Store creation. However, for small online sellers, the primary challenge is to attract & acquire customers & not mere product listing.
So , Beyond rent extracting platforms & expensive tools , what is the third alternative to consider?
Though there are no easy answers, We can take inspiration from an increasing new trend that is proliferating. Influencers are able to launch their own product lines & offerings with ease & scale rapidly.
One of the main takeaways is that end consumers do value personal connections/ideas that resonate with them & are attracted to such “Individual Brands”. There are countless Business Owners with their own unique skills & personality. However, tools available today do not capture this “Individual Brand” of Online Sellers. More importantly, the buyer of tomorrow, i.e. Gen Z(Born in late 90s) , is internet native & will not be attracted by mere price discounts. He/She likely will be more sensitive to being seen as buying commodity items & prefer uniquely branded products which resonate with his/her values. The catalogue driven stores will likely become passe with time.
The non-catalogue approach offers a new template for small online sellers to consider. While your Product still might be unique, you can augment your brand & possibility of attracting new customers by putting your personal stamp onto the Brand.
Already you are most probably the only single major individual running the business.
How it might look in reality?
Let’s say you are posting new pictures of your products each day on Social Media such as Instagram. However, the a new customer only views the Product. The potential new customer might venture into your profile. However, the lack of trust might dissuade them from going ahead & ordering. Assuming you have added a “Catalogue filled” online store link as well in the profile, it still does not solve the core issue of trust.
Instead, You can create a personal website wherein you primarily highlight what you stand for. That way you are not just a “Cookie Seller”. You are a cookie seller who is extremely passionate about Environment/Health & this reflects as theme in your offerings. Or you are a cookie seller who primarily started out because your own kids loved cookies. A potential customer with kids or someone who is passionate about health will strongly relate to anecdotes you highlight There is no substitute to genuine & credible stories.
Or, Say, You are not just an Apparel Seller, you are a certified designer who designs own clothings & creates unique Eastern & Western fusion designs. The Personal Online Website will serve as your “Brand Profile” & you can let your creativity shine on this blank canvas.
This creates a bridge that will help new potential customers cross the “distrust” chasm prevalent with small online sellers & augments your own personal Brand. In addition, if your Individual Brand resonates with the new user, there is higher probability of “Word of Mouth” with existing customer base.
Large Brands support all major social issues primarily for PR purposes & there seems to be distrust of large brands in mind of consumers. This potentially offers an opportunity for small online sellers to be genuine & through consistency enhance visibility in a crowded market.
In the beginning , you can continue to use Social Media for order collection, however once the personal website has some traction, you can subsequently add Catalogue & Ordering capability. This way Catalogue is a mere extension of your Brand.
Customer as Brand Ambassadors
If Individuals are brands then - What does the Brand Ambassador for such Brands look like? If you are considering to create your personal Brand - identifying & nurturing your organic customers as brand Ambassadors can be powerful. While today, almost all small business owners hope for & exclusively rely on “Word of mouth” of your quality product to drive awareness , a personal website offers powerful alternates.
Chances are you ,as Business owner, understand your ideal customer profile quite well. Suppose, majority of your customers tend to be 50+ women who prefer your apparel designs due to its mix of modernity & tradition. Well what else your customers might be interested in ? Let’s assume , Horoscope & Astronomy. How about enabling a features wherein you suggest apparels/Colours to apparels based on customer’s Horoscope.
A product purchase from a customer has various stages that culminates in final order. Engagement is requisite in initial stages before final order is placed . Having tools & unique offerings provider initial hook. Your customers are more likely to effortlessly mention that they tried this “Horoscope Filter” tool during dinner conversations & evening walks. No one talks about having visited a website wherein you can filter products on Price & Colour, but “Horoscope Filter” can be quite potent conversation point. Just as you are putting out your personal brand out there, you can consider using your “Know-How” of your customer’s profile to add differentiators.
The above is mere example. The core point is your personal website enables you to consider such external differentiator capabilities.
Other Advantages
Curator of Your Best Work :- When someone lands on your Instagram/FB profile, they control how they will view the posts. More often than not , it is the latest posts they see. But there might be other posts that you are proud of or are the most liked/commented that you would want on top to be visible. Similarly, your favourite Stories disappear after sometime.
The Personal website will have “Highlights” section which will have your best work displayed prominently on top , irrespective of when you posted it. It can have :-
The most thoughtful & favourite customer review you have received. It might be on Amazon, FB comment, Instagram, Whatsapp, But now you can highlight on top.
Your favourite posts.
Any achievement you are personally proud of.
Avoid Concentration Risks:- If your all posts & content is concentrated on 1-2 platforms, if your account is banned, you will lose all the accumulated credibility & content. In recent years, Instagram/FB/Amazon account banning has increased in frequency.
This way a personal website offers a potential placeholder wherein you can keep all your relevant content/details in one place without risk of losing it.