FutureShop - the desktop economy

Have you considered how eBay is impacting our global economy…your business….your products…..your customer base?

The rules of business are being rewritten as the current generation of digital marketplaces, led by eBay, are maturing and becoming mainstream. As eBay approaches new levels of depth and breadth it is beginning to fuel an unprecedented level of buying and selling activity that will soon send ripple effects throughout the global economy. The aftershocks of this bustling secondary market will cause a dramatic shift in behavior whose repercussions will be stitched into the fabric of our society, culture and business for years to come.

This evolution is beginning to redefine socially accepted norms for consumer buying and selling behavior. Specifically, we are beginning to embrace the notion of temporary ownership. We will soon live in a world where the norm is to sell our designer shoes after wearing them twice, where Verizon will automatically send us the newest, best, most high tech mobile phone every six months, and where we’ll lease our Rolex watches instead of buying them. Did you know that – even today - you can already return used books to certain Barnes and Noble Bookstores, upgrade your golf clubs at your local Callaway dealer and trade in your an old video camera for a new one at Sony?

This new paradigm will change the very meaning of brand value and alter fundamental methods of marketing across most consumer products. It will reinforce the importance of a brand in a virtual mall where reading the label on a digital photograph becomes the closest thing to touching and feeling what you buy. Yet at the same time, it will shake-up the status-quo by re-shuffling brand values according to how well a product actually sells in the secondary market. The “informed consumer” will soon choose the brand of her next handbag based on how much it will likely fetch on eBay next year – which corresponds to how much it will really cost her to own it up until then.

Organizations that understand the new dynamics between the secondary and primary markets will strengthen their products inherently, and in so doing increase customer loyalty. And their consumers that understand how to maximize the value-to-utility lifecycle of their possessions will be rewarded with a more prosperous but less costly lifestyle.

This trend is already here and Ebay is using the age old bollywood to rake up transactions.

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