Selling online / Negotiating I
Selling and buying online is very often
called e-commerce:
It is electronic commerce (EC) which
offers us the opportunity to buy and sell
on the Internet
A system used to conduct business
transactions over a computer network
A simple form of EC is taking an order
over the telephone
E-commerce can refer to:
Business transactions between companies
or between companies and their
customers
Transferring money through the Internet
A new term dotcom frenzy (going mad for
the world of Internet) appeared in the late
1990s
A new term – clicks and mortar is
becoming very popular:
It is a business that combines online
selling with traditional offline selling ( in
stores)
A store using this cliks and mortar sell its
products in a shop beside offering the
same products online
The Internet part is called clicks and
traditional selling is called mortar
An example: Tesco
It is an international supremarket chain
based in the United Kingdom (food,
clothes, electronic, financial services...)
Tesco has successfully combined old
economy with the world of e-commerce
Today Tesco sells goods in stores and on
the Internet
Another example: Webvan
It was an online “credit and delivery”
grocery business that went bankrupt in
2001
It is a good example of how a good
business can be spoiled: the application
of online selling trapped the business –
there were big demands with short-term
profitability, instead of growth and market
expansion
An example of failure: e-toys
It was a high-profile company that built a
great service
It started selling toys online in America
The problem was their low profit (no
profit- no futher business) which caused
the company to run out of cash and go into
liquidation
Amazon: almost the only online seller
Amazon is today called the only pure-play
(exclusively) online seller that has a well
known brand
It has good e-fulfilment systems (taking
orders and delivery) and it is very
efficient, but some say that its long-term
profitability is not certain
To set up Amazon.co.uk it was necessary
to:
 Achieve lots of sales and secure profit
 The only way to have this is to do a fantastic job for
customers so they keep coming back
 You must have a good website (it must be easy and
quick to use)
 It must give lots of information about the items and
offer low prices
 When somebody orders, you must provide a fast
delivery which is reliable
 If anything goes wrong you need an excellent customer
service team (on the phone or by e-mail)
Many companies report an increase in
online selling:
Easyjet and Ryanair (airline companies)
now have more than 90% tickets sold
online
This proves that online selling increases
where the goods don’t have to be
physically delivered. Physical delivery
brings up problems of warehousing and
the need for good infrastructure
The choice of goods to sell online:
Some goods and services may be more
suitable for selling online (holidays and
travel)
Some other products may produce
problems: groceries and shoes
What happens when you find out that the
product you got is not suitable, or it is not
at all what you ordered?
Selling online and high-street retailing:
differences and similarities
You don’t need shop assistants when
you buy online (but there are some people
on the phone ready to help)
If you buy in a shop, delivery is not a
problem
Similarities: customer satisfaction, quality,
reliability of goods are equally important
in both cases
New developments: teenagers buy a lot
online
They buy games, CDs and clothing
The problem is they are too young to own
credit cards, so they sometimes manage
to do this with the help of their parents
Visa calculates that they spent a total of
153 billion dollars in the US last year!
The parents are more likely to buy them
something in a real shop than to give
them credit cards
Internet users in Croatia
1,4 million people have an access to
internet
Many of those who have access do not
use it (34%)
Internet users in Croatia are 56% men and
44% women ( most younger than 34)
The biggest part of users have a high
school diploma
Neckermann and Quelle
 Thanks to their online services these companies
have increased their sales
 Neckermann has earned over 100 million kunas
thanks to a good service provided for over 350
000 buyers
 They have many employees and the figures are
still rising
 It is a good idea to start an online selling
business in Croatia (low competition,
possibilities for new markets...)
Modern life with little time to walk around
the stores is another reason to surf the
Internet and have your goods delivered at
home
On these websites you can see the
articles in detail, check the prices and be
sure to receive your money back if you are
not content
The advantages of using the Internet for
business:
It is simple and it saves time and money
It saves the effort and the cost of
bureaucracy
You can go through a mass of information
in very short time
You can keep up with your competition
Negotiating tips
 Be friendly.
 Have clear aims.
 Tell the other side what you want.
 Listen carefully.
 Pay attention to the other side’s body language.
 Don’t change your plan during the meeting.
 Never be the first to make an offer.
Negotiating: stating aims
We would like to have it in a month’s time.
We must have delivery by the end of next
week.
Our company has a strong “time is money”
policy.
Making concessions:
 If I have to finish in one month, I’ll need to have
an extra designer.
 That could be all right – as long as I get some
money in advance.
 We might deliver the goods immediately if your
payments are on time.
 If I finish in one month, will you agree to reduce
the number of pages?
 I think we could arrange that if we receive half
the amount in the next 24 hours.
Rejecting suggestions:
We would prefer to pay you a fixed
amount.
I am very sorry, our company does not
approve of third parties.
Actually, we already have a skilled
personnel to do that.
Bargaining:
How about paying me half when I start
the work?
Would you consider lowering your prices
if we make arrangements for delivery?
How about contacting new clients for this
new product?
Focussing the discussion:
Let’s talk about the time for setting up the
website.
Allow me to concentrate on our long-term
profits.
Our priority is to have the goods as soon
as possible.
Talk about companies / present
simple and present continuous
Which of these companies would you like
to work for?
A family owned company
A multinational company
Your own company (be self-employed)
Which of these business sectors would
you work in?
Telecommunications/media
Engineering
Retailing
Tourism
Banking and finance
Food and drink
Transport
Present simple:
 Form: He/she/it works. I work. They work.
He doesn’t work. They don’t work.
Does he work? Do they work?
Use: we use the present simple tense to:
-give information about permanent activities
(Valentino makes luxury chocolates.)
-describe a state that doesn’t change:
(He looks like his father.)
-talk about routine activities, repeated
actions or habits:
(I often travel abroad on business.)
-some verbs are always used in the
present simple (not with –ing):
What do you mean? I remember her
name.
Present continuous
Form: I am going. He/she/it is going.
They are going.
I am not going. Am I going?
Use: We use the present continuous to:
-describe activities in progress at the
moment of speaking
(She is talking to him on the phone right
now.)
-describe temporary situations:
(The delegation is staying at the Hilton
until Friday.)
- refer to future arrangements:
(He is starting a new job next week.)
- describe changing situation:
(We are developing a new marketing
strategy.)
Complete these sentences with either the
present simple or the present continuous:
We normally _______ (hold) ous sales
conference in Spain, but this year we
_______ (hold) it in Poland.
Although we ________ (use) our own
sales representative at the moment, we
generally _________ (use) agents in
Japan.
It normally _______ (take) us two years to
develop a new product.
We don’t often ______ (raise) our prices
more than 5%, but this time we
__________ (raise) them 10%.
Usually our Sales Director _________
(deal) with important customers.
We usually ________ (recruit) from within
the company, but this time we _________
(advertise) externally.
We _______ (rent) offices until our new
headquarters are ready.
The company ________ (want) to achieve
record sales this year.
Complete this job advertisement with the
following verbs (present simple or
continuous):
look, have, offer, employ, be, offer,
prepare, consider, need, grow
We ____ one of the largest mobile phone
retailers in Europe. We _____
independent and impartial advice on
mobile phones. We ____ more than 800
stores in 10 countries, and we ________
fast.
We ______ over 3000 workers. Currently
we _______ the next stage in our
development, and we ______ for major
growth outside Europe.
We ____ for people who are reliable,
confident and enthusiastic. We _____
experienced people who want to work for
an expanding company.
We _____ a competitive salary and private
health insurance. We are willing to reward
staff with attractive performance-based
bonuses.