Basic Understanding of Commerce

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- Entrepreneurship

I believe that embracing entrepreneurship is a very modern and courageous thing to do. It has a high failure rate yet it is visible that there are many entrepreneur in society right now. These are the people that truly stand up for what they believe in and they want to share that to the world. That is why there is a growing number of social entrepreneurships in the world. Instead of just focusing on the firm itself, these unique businesses tries to help people around the world. I think that these firms are a very interesting blend of business and humaneness. Some examples could be TOMS shoes, or the Sauder ARC project. If the world is growing, I believe that businesses should also be growing, and they should do so by helping the society around them.

- Social Media

In modern society, social media is becoming a big part of everyone’s lives. They allow people around to world to stay connected 24/7 and is becoming an increasingly popular marketing platform. As many firms begin to adapt BTM (Business Technology Management), social media is also being introduced to the world of commerce. I feel that social media is a great way to market products, almost as good as word-of-mouth because of the amount of time consumers spend on social media sites. This is also great for starting a small firm because using social media to advertise is virtually if not already free. Moreover, many teenagers use social media, and these teenagers are starting to grow into adulthood. Once they become self-sufficient with a steady income, they will become the majority of the customer base, which is the near future. So I feel that using social media to market products is not only efficient, but is also smart because of the long-term benefits. However, there are also problems with marketing through social media. As mentioned above, it could also be an ethical problem.

- Brand Positioning & Value Proposition

In marketing, one main job is to create goods and services that appeals to the customers. However, where do the firm stand and what is the firm truly trying to offer their customers? That is what brand positioning and value proposition is about. As the marketing department tries to create more innovative products and services that will attract more customers they will be focusing on two main points. Point of parity and point of difference. The point of parity is important because it sets a category for this good that a firm is trying to promote. Customers like to know that a good is new, but still falls under a category which allows for them to grasp the concept and value. Point of difference is also important though, because it puts distance between a good from all the other type of similar goods that is already on the market. Both points needs to be clear and strong for a customer to grow interest in a product. However, many customers are not only looking at individual product. Many of my friends and I like to be loyal customers, we like to find a brand we like so we can always fall back and trust that brand above all other. In my opinion, these are the main focuses of many market strategies, instead of targeting the promotion of one product, it is trying to target the brand as a whole. Like many advertisements out there, it doesn’t matter which media is selected, but it always seem to have the logo or catch phrase of the company. This is an example of a firm trying to show the consumer’s its value proposition. What the firm is actually trying to sell: be it a lifestyle, an idea, a culture. It is only when a customer gets attached to the value of a brand, they will become a loyal customer.

- Commerce

My understanding of commerce has significantly changed over the past semester. Before being exposed to the many aspect of this industry, I only understood it as much as the dictionary would explain it: the process of exchanging goods and services whether on a large or small scale. However, just as the Mind Map above would suggest, ‘commerce’ or business is a complicated process. In fact, it can be considered as an idea. It is in fact the idea of exchange, but more than just the exchange of physical objects or services. It is the exchange of philosophy between different societies, the exchange of worth between firms, and the exchange of perspectives between individuals. As humans evolve and become more globalized, we become more specialized in what we do. Commerce becomes a communication tool that allows us to trade our skills to create a better standard of life. This is perceived as the most efficient way of living by many people in the modern society. This type of communication however, requires many regulations due to its complexity. It is broken down in to many different categories While the true categories and connections within commerce is surely much more intricate and dense, my Mind Map depicts what I have learned over the past few month in Comm 101 and my general understanding of the topic thus far.