Marketplace is a new place for MSMEs to sell their wares online. Even though it is not really recently that MSMEs have moved their stalls to online, it turns out that there are still many things they do not know for sure – one of those things is the issue of rating.
At first glance, considering how MSME actors convince their consumers to buy their wares is by direct interaction such as bargaining prices with each other until they get the agreement for the price. Actually, this kind of things is not found when MSME actors sell online.
Direct interaction is something that is eliminated when MSMEs sell in the marketplace. The question is, how can consumers be sure to buy their wares? The answer is quite simple, namely rating. Consumers or prospective buyers when visiting online stores in the marketplace, will at least see first how the rating of the online store is. If the rating represents a high positive value and is convincing, then the potential for consumers to buy goods from the store is even greater.
With the reality like this, it is not wonder that MSMEs in the marketplace is idolizing the rating.
Taking this issue seriously, the marketplace brand should have strategic steps to help online businesses or MSME actors to be able to compete healthily even though they relay on ratings. So, what are the strategic steps that brand need? To find it out more, please see the discussion below.
What is Rating?
Before knowing what strategic steps a marketplace brand should have, online businesses or MSME actors must first know what a rating is. Reporting from Kompas.com – rating or store performance is an assessment score based on the quality of service to buyers. Thus, the greater the rating score in an online store – the greater potential for consumes to continue to buy their needs at the store.
The next question is what aspects determine the assessment score in the online store? Still from the same site, it is explained that services such as satisfied consumer and seller interactions through chatbots or chat applications, then how fast some orders are completed, to online interactions between sellers and buyers after the purchased goods reach the consumer – become a series of aspects that determine the height or the store’s low score.
Reporting from the linkumkm.id site – there are at least five simple points that affect the rating of a store in the marketplace:
- Using real photos for the product
- Responsive
- There are details of re-confirming the order
- Good packing for shipping
- Give feedback after the goods arrive
From the five points above – perhaps the points that not many MSME actors really understand are point 2 and 5. The two points are the interaction between the seller and the buyer, if this buying and selling activity occurs physically, it might be easy to carry out the interaction. However, because this is online – being responsive to answering various buyer questions, to providing feedback after the buyer’s ordered goods arrive, this may be a challenge for MSME actors. This difficulty can lead them to get a low rating, because they are less responsive to buyers and they do not care when there are complaints after the order arrives.
For this reason, brands such as marketplaces – seem to need to make separate communications about this rating to MSME actors who have digital stalls.
So, What Brand Can Do?
Easy-to-digest communication in educating MSME actors is what they need. Here, the role of the marketplace can be a mentor who teaches MSME actors to interact well with buyers in digital stalls. For example, there needs to be time dedication to become an admin in the digital store so what whenever a buyer comes to ask a question, the store can answer it.
Easy-to-digest communication can be made in the form of simple tutorial videos, so that MSME players can understand what they have to do for their digital store. MSME actors can also understand how digital buyers should be served, these various inputs can be educational materials in the communication that the marketplace will make.
In addition, the marketplace can first conduct research on MSME actors to find out various other challenges things related to sore ratings on these digital stalls. Therefore, StratX KG Media is here – ready to help the marketplace to gain various insight or input that can be used as a basis for making further communication strategies.
