Introduction
Trade Me is a novel concept which involves selling and buying of goods over internet. It is a web site which provides the buyer/ seller with a platform to trade their commodities on internet. It was founded in 1999 by a young computer consultant. This concept involves people sending money to sellers they have never met, for goods they have never seen physically. Trade Me was the first auction site which offers online auctions in New Zealand. It was the only site which grew faster and took a leadership position in market. Since 1999 till now no auction company has got the ability to compete with trade me. Although eBay also has been established as an auction company but Trade Me has signed up so many members that eBay didn’t stand a chance. It’s a great market and people are so use to it that it has become a part of everyday lives.
History
Trade Me have great number of advantages over other auction sites. The reason for its being advantageous is due to number of factors. The first and foremost is its marketing law called the "First Mover Advantage". This law means that a person who enters first in the new market always has the edge over competitors who start marketing later. Once a marketer is established in a market segment it is very hard for others to compete with him.
Features
Another reason for Trade Me success over other auction sites that it very simple to understand and easy to use. Maker of the site put his efforts on making the site to load faster. As if the loading time of the site is slow it may lose the customers as they may go for other sites. And a fast loading site is necessary for auctions particularly during the frenzied final moments of bidding at the end of an auction.
Trade Me does not involve unnecessary site features that can complicate their simple model. They include only basic features required for facilitation of marketing. It doesn’t contain so many features that make the site overwhelming to navigate. As compared to me trade other auction sites have unnecessary features which complicate their navigation panels. Provision of lots of feature may attract members but it creates difficulty in their understanding of what to do.
Trade Me does not involve usage of lengthy page layouts for auction. Instead they use short page layout for each auction. It owns biggest market share which allows it to provide biggest range of goods listed. Sellers pay fee for advertising on this site while for buyers it’s all free. But the charges paid by the seller are minimal in front of benefits they achieved.
Tips and comments
Although, it is just another site among thousand other sites to buy and sell stuff but the fact that Me trade holds a leadership position has not restricted anyone to compete with it. People should keep on trying to make a better auction site with provision of much better marketing facilities. Because no one knows who will be a leader of online marketing in future.
