Category: Management

E-commerce sites involve a lot of transactions often carried out in the purchase of goods by the buyers. Hence, it is good for you to stick to a reliable e-commerce system like WordPress. Like many other people, I was not a big fan of WordPress because it was available free-of-cost without any licensing restrictions. Obviously, freebies don’t thrill me. But, later on this incident which I am going to share with you made me think otherwise. Read on. I woke up from a deep, dreamless sleep one fine morning to the chirping of birds and a pleasant feeling that comes with the dawn of the day. Wanting to get a glimpse of the weather outside, I took a peep through the window and wondered what this day has in store for me. Having my mind cluttered with the previous day’s strenuous activities and badly in need of fresh air, I was gasping for breath. So, I hurriedly put on my track suit and stepped out of my house for a jog into the nearby park. It being a part of my daily regimen to end the jog with a glass full of juice, I headed to a nearby eatery. Here, I was face to face with a man that I knew from my childhood. He wore expensive clothing and seemed to lead a lavish lifestyle with all the jewelry he had on his person. He was on the phone talking to an acquaintance about his business. I overheard the conversation wherein he was talking about the recent e-commerce store that he had opened. By the ongoing conversation, it seemed that his store was doing brisk business and he was constantly in touch with various people entrusted with the responsibility of managing his business. It was seeming impossible to recollect from my childhood days that he had an humble beginning. He was so less privileged that the bare necessity of a square meal would prove daunting to him. It was a luxury that he couldn’t afford. So, he used to do odd jobs to support his bare necessities. He was very meek in his appearance and always was at the receiving end of many taunts and insults of well-to-do people in the neighborhood- he never retorted back. He was always in the search of opportunities that would help him to wriggle out of this extreme poverty he was living in. I slowly regained my senses- it was a bit of a shocker to me of his transition to a rich man from the abject poverty he was living accustomed to- and became more interested in this metamorphosis of his and pressed for an answer from a bystander living long in the locality that this man of ours was from. The bystander revealed that the man had experienced a major upheaval of fortunes after experiencing many pitfalls and challenges compounded with the recent global slowdown that brought many otherwise brisk businesses to a screeching halt. He managed to found an e-commerce website and successfully kept it afloat in the professed aftermath of these turbulent times. Later, he shot to fame with this business of his. I later learned from the bystander that he used the WordPress e-commerce system in his store. It is very heartening to know what this customer-centric system can do to your business. This man had reaped huge benefits of this e-commerce system that effected in him a great transformation- a rags-to-riches story. Let’s look into a few of the benefits that come with using a site built on WordPress e-commerce system. Benefits of using WordPress e-commerce system Here are some of the benefits of using WordPress e-commerce system to build your store. Though there are a lot of benefits, only those benefiting largely are explored. 1. Dependable WordPress e-commerce system is very popular with buyers the world over. It being a trusted brand, there is all the possibility of your site living up to the expectations. WordPress being downloaded to the tune of 300,000 and counting, this brings a kind of security among the shoppers regarding the usually large transactions made on the website. This is a very important aspect in the e-commerce business as a sense of security creeps up in the mind of the buyer. The transactions being overlooked by such bigwigs of the e-commerce business and under such an authentic brand can be very rewarding to the store owner. The brand that WordPress endorses also means that the money involved safely changes hands under the stipulated norms and guidelines, laying to rest rumors or more precisely, fears of the process involved in transactions being rendered incomplete midway by technical difficulties or other problems. The buyers are also guided with FAQs regarding the failure of the transactions as to how they can troubleshoot these bugs. They can be informed about the steps they can take as to what glitch occurred and how they can resolve the issues. If problems in connectivity arise, they can be sorted out promptly by guiding them with the possible remedy. Bugs such as browser issues or other technical details can be explained with lucid and clear language. 2. Diverse payment gateways WordPress comes with many pre-installed gateways such as PayPal-Express, Chronopay, Google Checkout, Paypal and Manual Payment. Manual payment can be used by your buyers for transactions involving money or cash orders. There are other alternatives too that buyers can opt such as eWay and Authorize.net. The possibility of a gold cart module may have to be explored by them to vouch for these options, though. WordPress e-commerce also comes with built-in calculators for computing shipping rates. It has links to shippers too to maintain updated shipping rates. With Authorize.net international buyers can be entertained, thus expanding your business horizon. This gives you ever more exposure to a whole lot of prospects of making your business successful. The gateways mentioned herein can make your clients feel more secure, but it is advised to arm yourself with SSL certificates. A lot of buyers’

One of the biggest challenges faced by a company belonging to a collectivist culture is, coping with its intrinsic disposition towards a self effacing attitude. Most of the profit centers of a company require an aggressive approach to generate greater revenues and can go to any lengths for touting their company in the market to achieve their goals, but ambitious goals are seldom accomplished with a self-effacing attitude. Self-effacing Bias and Pseudo-modesty It is a basic human nature to associate self effacing behavior with modesty and it may be perceived as a virtue, but in the cut throat competition amongst the corporate giants there is no place for this ‘virtue’ rather it will take your company down the hill. With the advent of globalization the competition between companies has increased by leaps and bounds, which has led strategists to believe that everything can be commoditized and shoved down the throat of customers. Clearly if companies follow a self effacing pattern, it will not be of any help rather it will leave them flailing for help. This behavioral pattern should be understood in depth to avoid falling prey to it, many companies slip into the grip of this behavioral pattern and lose in the race. What is a self effacing behavior and how is it significant in the commercial world? A self effacing behavior refers to being reticent, withdrawn and holding back of oneself from reaching out to people. Overuse of modesty along with a withdrawn attitude can also pass for a self effacing behavior. Some cultures appreciate modesty and may perceive this behavioral pattern as a virtue but it is definitely a vice for corporate biggies looking for ways to augment their profit margins. In today’s competitive society it is very important to become outgoing and venturesome, especially for companies aiming to achieve phenomenal growth. This behavior pattern may keep companies from adopting ostentatious marketing strategies and communicating their potential strengths to their customers which may lead to insignificant profits.  As a rule, a company must not leave any stone unturned to reach out to its customers. The best example is many companies still find it difficult to promote themselves unabashedly on social media. Why pseudo-modesty is not good in online businesses Modesty is an appreciable quality, but when you are striving to carve a niche for yourself you must put your best foot forward and make your presence felt in the market rather than being modest and shy. These are the prerequisites for a company to get noticed and picked over its arch rivals by its target customers. This behavioral pattern is very redundant and almost all of us have come across individuals who exhibit this behavioral pattern. A shy backbencher in high school who evades public attention, prefers doing things in his own way without keeping up with the joneses exemplifies self effacing behavior.  Now, this guy may not be weird or psychotic, but just because of his awkward and withdrawn behavior he may be perceived as a soft target by the bullies. Such behavioral pattern can also restrict the kid’s performance in extracurricular activities. He may not volunteer in any activities because of his self effacing behavior and might not discover his forte or hidden talents. Is your company being too modest or pretends to be modest? It is well understood that self effacing is not favorable for companies to achieve astronomical profits, even after knowing so you may fall prey to it if you do not have the knack to identify it. This behavioral pattern can easily be noticed in marketing strategies employed by a company. A ruthless company with a competitive mettle will follow a rigorous marketing strategy and will stop at nothing to advertise its products, which may be considered as utter effrontery by the ‘moralistic’ society but it would propel sales to unprecedented heights and generate profits. It has been noticed that nascent companies or start-ups evade self effacing and adopt rigorous methods to shoot up their sales, they do not hold themselves back from reaching out to their customers rather they force their products in the shelves of retail stores. To satiate their burning desire for achieving greater profits such companies fervently advertise their products and pay a great deal of attention to brand communication. They don’t mind if their advertisements are immodest and are meant to shock and awe the conservative cultural groups. Most of the companies without a self effacing behavior believe in being pompous and sharing their achievements with the social media to show where they stand in the market, this helps them in achieving accolades and also makes them famous in every household. This modus operandi works wonders for companies which aim to increase their profits over a small period of time. Since it is a brash world out there, it is necessary for us to be vigorous while marketing a brand and not only that, a laid back attitude is unacceptable to reap desired profits. If you are very successful, modesty may work Having said that, there are few companies which may act ‘modest’ in their approach to safeguard their reputation of being moralistic. Such companies are usually well established and raking in moolah is not their only goal, they are more concerned about their reputation in the market. This may stem from the unnecessary need of showing oneself ‘holier than thou’ just to feel complacent. Believe it or not, even this approach works, it helps companies in establishing a goodwill with its customers which fortifies the brand. Evidently, start-ups and companies looking for greater profit margins cannot adopt this behavioral pattern and will have to follow a vehement approach to establish their brand in the market. Situational factors and intrinsic factors go hand in hand to achieve success As we now know, self effacing is a heightened form of unnecessary modesty which often drives individuals to blame themselves for their failures and attribute their success to situational factors. This behavioral pattern is not helpful to