This is a million-dollar question that every online entrepreneur and Internet marketing wannabe should be asking themselves. After all, if you are not even sure about the market that you are going to promote your products to, then how are you going to survive in your business?
The one important concept that you must understand is that any business, whether online or offline, is a numbers game. And this is why the Internet is such a fascinating market place, stretching all over the globe from way up in Canada to all the way Down Under. With the Internet, you can reach out to the world in the quickest possible time.
It is as if the world is literally at your feet, and just about anyone with an Internet connection can potentially be your customer. And this is what makes having an online business such a highly profitable option.
However, even with such an enormous online marketplace, it is really hard to believe that market saturation is still a nagging problem for many Internet businesses. Even the hottest selling products today can cool off a couple of months from now.
You really can't fault online entrepreneurs, because they are doing their best to promote their offers. They are trying out a lot of marketing tactics to secure the highest level of exposure possible for their products. But are they marketing to the right people?
Let us take a look at the following statistics from internetworldstats.com.
* Asia has a population of more than 3.5 billion people. Well over 200 million of them use the Internet, and around 17 million have made online purchases.
* Europe has a population of more than 700 million people. Over 200 million of them use the Internet, and around 65 million have made purchases online.
* North America has a population of more than 300 million. More than 200 million of them use the Internet, and around 160 million have made purchases online.
* Africa has a population of 900 million people. More than 12 million of them use the internet. Around 250,000 have made purchases online.
* The Middle East has a population of 260 million.17 million of them use the internet, more than 1 million have made purchases online.
*Oceania has a population of 32 million people. About 16 million of them use the internet, and around 8 million have made purchases online.
Looking at the above statistics will tell you that the numbers are indeed mind-boggling. Also, take into account the fact that these numbers can only increase with increased Internet usage and online purchases, and you have a seemingly unlimited market.
As you can see, North America and Europe seem to be the most profitable markets, which are expected. This is the reason why most online businesses and Internet marketing experts are focusing on these continents.
But since just about any Tom, Dick and Harry have set their sights on these two markets, the competition is getting ever stronger. This is like unleashing a pack of lions into a grassland full of sheep. The grassland may be a very big place, but there will come a time when the lions would run out of sheep to prey on. When that happens, we would have something called market saturation.
Is there any way out of a saturated market? The answer is simple enough: Go look for new markets to explore. What are the possible options?
Asia is a very attractive market due to the sheer number of its population. Another advantage is that this market is young, and so that leaves a lot of room for development. The Middle East is another good alternative for you to explore, because the people in the countries of this continent are rich, and so they are not afraid to pull out their credit cards.
It all sounds very well and good, but there is a small problem. The majority of the Asian and Middle Eastern populations are not very well versed in the English language. The solution here is also very simple: translate your web pages into other different languages. You can start off by translating to the Chinese language to attract the vast numbers of the Chinese market.
In order to survive the cut-throat world of Internet marketing, you have to be constantly on the lookout for new markets. One market becomes saturated? Move on to the next one where you could seize the initiative, because the Internet marketing world is indeed a very, very big marketplace. |
