Successful Sellers Research Articles

Seller-buyer networks in NFT art are driven by preferential ties

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have recently surged to mainstream attention by allowing the exchange of digital assets via blockchains. NFTs have also been adopted by artists to sell digital art. One of the promises of NFTs is broadening participation to the art market, a traditionally closed and opaque system, to sustain a wider and more diverse set of artists and collectors. A key sign of this effect would be the disappearance or at least reduction in importance of seller-buyer preferential ties, whereby the success of an artist is strongly dependent on the patronage of a single collector. We investigate NFT art seller-buyer networks considering several galleries and a large set of nearly 40,000 sales for over 230 M USD in total volume. We find that NFT art is a highly concentrated market driven by few successful sellers and even fewer systematic buyers. High concentration is present in both the number of sales and, even more strongly, in their priced volume. Furthermore, we show that, while a broader-participation market was present in the early phase of NFT art adoption, preferential ties have dominated during market growth, peak and recent decline. We consistently find that the top buyer accounts on average for over 80% of buys for a given seller. Similar trends apply to buyers and their top seller. We conclude that NFT art constitutes, at the present, a highly concentrated market driven by preferential seller-buyer ties.

Dancing with rivals: How does platform’s information usage benefit independent sellers?

Platforms greatly facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers. At the same time, this allows platforms to gather detailed information on transactions and tailor their strategies when introducing their own products that compete with independent sellers. Concerns have been raised that such an information advantage of platforms can hurt sellers. To investigate the impact of information usage by platforms, we analyze a dynamic game-theoretic model where competing sellers trade via a platform that has access to information at various levels of granularity. We show that the usage of more detailed and individualized information by the platform can actually benefit sellers. This occurs as sellers compete less intensely, anticipating that the platform would take advantage of more individualized information to target the more successful sellers. The competition relaxing effect is particularly strong when sellers are close substitutes and face little demand uncertainty within their product category. In such cases, both the platform and sellers could benefit from more individualized information usage, but consumers may be hurt.

ESSENTIAL FACTORS FOR BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS ON FACEBOOK: EVIDENCE FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC

E-commerce has become an integral part of the modern age. The behaviour of e-commerce customers has some specifics, which is useful for firms to understand. As customers’ trust and willingness to accept risk influence the decision to buy a product in e-commerce, it is evident that some unique factors must be in e-commerce which is needed to pay attention to be a successful seller. One of the trends affecting how to manage relations with customers is the use of firm profiles on social networks. This paper identifies factors related to the company’s Facebook profile that influence customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in e-commerce. Furthermore, non-traditional factors such as Self-efficacy or Data security are used. The study provides a primary basis for further research in this area. Data collection was done among e-commerce customers using a questionnaire survey (n = 602). For data analysis, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used. The determined construct contained a total of 9 variables. The findings confirmed that the following factors affect customer satisfaction and loyalty: the perceived usefulness and the amount of information on the Facebook company profile, the perceived Credibility of information given on this profile, the Data security offered by the social network, customer Self-efficacy and Ease of use of the given social network. The results supported the idea that it is possible to build relationships with customers in e-commerce via social networks. To offer credible information in an adequate frequency on the company profile is essential. Furthermore, it is helpful to consider customers’ perceived safety and Self-efficacy, which have also proven to be important in the online environment. These results can serve business practice.

Reputation transferability across contexts: Maintaining cooperation among anonymous cryptomarket actors when moving between markets

BackgroundBuyers and sellers of illegal drugs in cryptomarkets have been found to overcome trust issues created by anonymity and the lack of legal protection with the help of reputation systems. Cryptomarkets rarely operate for longer than a year before closing or getting shut down due to external shocks, such as law enforcement operations. This results in large flows of users migrating between market platforms. An important question in order to better understand why cryptomarkets recover quickly after external shocks is: to what extent can reputation be carried over between different markets? This problem is non-trivial given the anonymity of cryptomarket users and the fact that reputation is tied to a user's online identity. Here we analyze conditions under which sellers choose to migrate with the same identity and whether reputation history from previous cryptomarkets yields benefits in new contexts. MethodsWe analyze sellers’ migration in three cryptomarkets (Abraxas, Agora and AlphaBay) and follow their reputation history by linking user accounts between marketplaces using the Grams database. We use longitudinal multi-level regression models to compare market success of migrant and non-migrant sellers. In total, the data contains more than 7,500 seller account and 2.5 million buyers’ reputational feedback messages over a period of 3 years. FindingsIt is predominantly the successful sellers with a large number of sales and high reputation who choose to migrate and maintain their identity using cryptographic methods after market closures. We find that reputation history from previous markets creates a competitive advantage to migrant sellers compared to market entrants. ConclusionReputation transferability embeds cryptomarket users beyond a single market platform, which incentivizes cooperative behavior. The results also suggest that reputation transferability might contribute to a quick recovery of online drug trade after shutdowns and accumulation of market share in the hands of a small fraction of successful sellers.

The influence of relationship marketing investments on customer gratitude in retailing

Customer gratitude represents the emotional core of reciprocity and plays a key force in developing and maintaining successful seller–buyer relational exchanges. Based upon personal interviews with 239 members of loyalty card programs of a department chain store, this study shows that alternative relationship marketing investments (i.e., direct mail, tangible rewards, interpersonal communication, and preferential treatment) have a differential influence on customers' gratitude and consequently behavioral loyalty. More specifically, results of this study indicate that preferential treatment is the most effective relationship marketing tactic to enhance customer gratitude, followed by interpersonal communication and tangible rewards, respectively. Management implications for retailers to increase customers' gratitude are discussed.

Use of the Stinkbug, Encosternum delegorguei (Hemiptera, Tessaratomidae), for Food and Income in South Africa

The use of Encosternum delegorguei, an edible stinkbug with high nutritional value, is restricted to three distinct groups of people in the northeast of South Africa, the Bolobedu, the Mapulana, and the Vhavenda. The two latter groups consider stinkbugs a seasonal delicacy, whereas the Bolobedu do not enjoy eating stinkbugs but sell them in Thohoyandou and surrounding villages to the Vhavenda. Structured interview schedules with 106 harvesters indicated that an estimated total of 3803 ± 43.4 kg (mean ±SE) dry stinkbugs was harvested ( = 122.4 kg harvester−1 annum−1). Difficulties cited by harvesters include distances between harvesting areas or markets and the stinkbug's defense chemical. An annual gross income of = US$345, which can be procured from stinkbugs, contributes to improving rural livelihoods. Bolobedu women were the most successful sellers, with a mean annual income of US$746. Opportunities to reduce impediments to harvesting and selling in a sustainable framework are discussed.

Customer needing: a challenge for the seller offering

PurposeThe present increasingly tough economic climate has uncovered the need to go beyond the prevailing seller‐oriented models and company practices in order to capture the factors that essentially drive buyer companies. What is needed is a genuinely customer‐side concept that corresponds to offering. The purpose of this study is to develop a new concept labeled “customer needing” which emerged from the material collected in an industrial service setting.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports a case study of a typical high‐technology industrial service with a strong outsourcing trend. The empirical data consist of interviews with eight representatives from the seller company and 16 interviews from different customer companies.FindingsA needing is based on the customers' mental models of their business and business strategies that affect their priorities, decisions, and actions. It is itself a mental model of how the customer conceives the fulfillment of a specific task. In this paper the needing is operationalized as a profile of three dimensions containing six functions that represent desired value in use for the customer: the doing dimension comprises a relieving and an enabling function; the experiencing dimension has an energizing and a sheltering function; and the scheduling dimension contains a time‐framing and a timing function. Empirical data are presented to illustrate the new concept.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a case study but the ensuing concept provides a framework for further research on value in use and mental models in an industrial service setting. The studied offering was a complex business service representing an outsourced function and the buyers were functional experts and higher‐level executives, all of them experts in the service in question.Practical implicationsThe concept of customer needing extends knowledge of value in use and consequently represents an important tool in developing successful seller offerings. The shift of focus from offering to needing can explain why some sales attempts fail and can thus reveal new business opportunities.Originality/valueIn addition to highlighting the mental models driving companies' priorities and behavior, the study offers insights into value in use in an industrial service setting. The concept customer needing helps to analyze and describe value in use and provides a new buyer‐side concept corresponding to the offering concept.

Learning approaches for developing successful seller strategies in dynamic supply chain management

Variable, dynamic pricing is a key characteristic of the modern electronic trading environments, allowing for prices that change or fluctuate due to uncertainty and different conditions and context. Being able to manage dynamic pricing strategies is vital for companies wishing to succeed in the world of modern business. The ability to accurately predict selling prices at a given time can help organizations to maximize their profit. This paper addresses the problem of predicting customer order prices and choosing the selling strategy which can lead to a greater profit in the context of supply chain management (SCM). The potential of the Neural Networks (NN) and Genetic Programming (GP) learning techniques is explored for making price forecasts. In particular, different parameter settings and methods for preprocessing input data are investigated in the paper. Although, both techniques showed the potential for dealing with the problem of dynamic pricing in SCM, NN models outperform GP models in the context under consideration in terms of accuracy of prediction, complexity of implementation, and execution time.

Moral Judgment and its Impact on Business-to-Business Sales Performance and Customer Relationships

For many years, researchers and practitioners have sought out meaningful indicators of sales performance. Yet, as the concept of performance has broadened, the understanding of what makes up a successful seller, has become far more complicated. The complexity of buyer–seller relationships has changed therefore as the definition of sales performance has expanded, cultivating a growing interest in ethical/unethical actions since they could potentially have impacts on sales performance. Given this environment, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact of moral judgment on sales performance and sellers engaging in a customer-oriented selling approach. Specifically, by utilizing a sample of 345 business-to-business salespeople, this study examines the relationships between moral judgment, customer-oriented selling, and outcome and behavior based performance. Results, managerial implications, and opportunities for future research are provided.

Seller activity in a virtual marketplace

As virtual goods continue to proliferate in online worlds, understanding their production, consumption and distribution remains exciting for scholars, technology companies and policy makers alike. We present a descriptive study of the activities of successful sellers in Second Life, a 3D virtual world that allows users to create their content and even to make money by selling it to other users. We combine user log analysis, network analysis and content analysis to examine cycles in trading volume, market segmentation and specialization, geographic concentration and the impact of social capital on economic success, revealing important insights regarding virtual markets, as well as differences between the very top sellers and those making a more modest income.

A group formation support system based on substitute goods in group buying

AbstractIn electronic marketplaces, group buying is seen as an effective form of electronic commerce and a promising field for applying agent technologies. We study decision support systems for buyers in group buying. In group buying, when buyers cooperate with each other, a seller can discount the price of a good. In many existing group buying sites, some sellers deal in the same sort goods or their imitations. Buyers form coalitions for each item on sale. Buyers cannot always purchase goods at a lower price, because the buyers' subgroups are distributed. Buyers need to search hard to find goods they can purchase. In this paper, we propose a group buying marketplace on the Internet. In our marketplace, buyers can purchase goods at a lower price by forming coalitions. Our system can provide a service in which buyers are integrated based on their multiattribute preferences (utilities). Our system supports buyers' decision making by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. We propose three methods for group integration. First, buyers trade in simple group buying. Second, all buyers are integrated. Third, some buyers are integrated. The advantages of our market are that buyers' multiattribute utilities are effectively expressed in group integration and buyers can purchase goods at a lower price. Buyers' payments are decided based on their degree of compromise. A successful seller can sell goods in their stock. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 35(10): 23–31, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.10695

Corporate policies to include micro activity goals can affect sales urgency in salespeople, prospects and customers

Many industrial salespeople and sales managers think that to close a sale they need to employ manipulative closing techniques during the closing stage of the sales process. That is a mistake. Successful sellers make prospects aware of their needs in the "needs awareness" stage and create a sense of urgency to satisfy those needs. This paper discusses how corporate policies, goal setting (financial and activity) and employing effective information systems can create or diminish the sense of urgency for industrial salespeople.

Seller-buyer interactions during the commercialization of technological process innovations

For buyers and sellers alike, high-tech process innovations can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, technological process innovations (e.g., computer hardware and software, factory automation equipment) offer buyers the potential for reduced production costs and enhanced product quality. However, early adoption of such innovations is often a risky proposition. For the seller, successful commercialization requires stimulating not only adoption, but also successful implementation of the innovation. In other words, effective management of seller-buyer relations during the development and commercialization process go a long way toward determining the success of a high-tech process innovation. Gerard A. Athaide, Patricia W. Meyers, and David L. Wilemon examine the relationship marketing activities employed by successful sellers of high-tech process innovations. They identify eight strategic marketing objectives that underlie these relationship marketing activities: product customization, information gathering on product performance, product education and training, ongoing product support, proactive political involvement (to encourage support for the innovation from the various affected parties in the buyer's organization), product demonstration and trial, real-time problem-solving assistance, and clarification of the product's relative advantage. Their findings suggest that successful sellers engage in relationship marketing activities throughout all phases of the commercialization process. Rather than simply trying to close a deal, these firms seek active involvement from potential customers, ranging from codesigning of products to seeking feedback on productrelated problems or desired modifications. This broader scope of customer involvement necessitates cooperation among various groups in the seller's organization. Product development and engineering work closely with the customer during product customization. Those groups must communicate effectively with the salespeople who demonstrate the product and with the customer support people who obtain feedback and provide real-time problem-solving support. In other words, these relationship marketing activities cut across functional barriers. Consequently, a clear understanding of the buyer's needs and environment is essential throughout the seller's organization, not just in the sales and marketing departments.

Seller–Buyer Interactions During the Commercialization of Technological Process Innovations

For buyers and sellers alike, high‐tech process innovations can be a double‐edged sword. On the one hand, technological process innovations (e.g., computer hardware and software, factory automation equipment) offer buyers the potential for reduced production costs and enhanced product quality. However, early adoption of such innovations is often a risky proposition. For the seller, successful commercialization requires stimulating not only adoption, but also successful implementation of the innovation. In other words, effective management of seller—buyer relations during the development and commercialization process go a long way toward determining the success of a high‐tech process innovation.Gerard A. Athaide, Patricia W. Meyers, and David L. Wilemon examine the relationship marketing activities employed by successful sellers of high‐tech process innovations. They identify eight strategic marketing objectives that underlie these relationship marketing activities: product customization, information gathering on product performance, product education and training, ongoing product support, proactive political involvement (to encourage support for the innovation from the various affected parties in the buyer's organization), product demonstration and trial, real‐time problem‐solving assistance, and clarification of the product's relative advantage.Their findings suggest that successful sellers engage in relationship marketing activities throughout all phases of the commercialization process. Rather than simply trying to close a deal, these firms seek active involvement from potential customers, ranging from codesigning of products to seeking feedback on product‐related problems or desired modifications.This broader scope of customer involvement necessitates cooperation among various groups in the seller's organization. Product development and engineering work closely with the customer during product customization. Those groups must communicate effectively with the salespeople who demonstrate the product and with the customer support people who obtain feedback and provide real‐time problem‐solving support. In other words, these relationship marketing activities cut across functional barriers. Consequently, a clear understanding of the buyer's needs and environment is essential throughout the seller's organization, not just in the sales and marketing departments.

The market for interfirm asset sales: Partial sell-offs and total liquidations

We investigate the valuation consequences of voluntary proposals to sell part or all of a corporation's assets. For partial sell-offs, successful sellers and buyers reap statistically significant abnormal returns of 1.66% and 0.83%, respectively. Unsuccessful sellers realize gains at the bid announcement of 1.41% that are lost at the offer termination. In contrast, proposals to liquidate the firm are associated with significant average abnormal returns of 12.24%. We interpret these findings as evidence that asset sales are associated with the movement of resources to higher-valued uses rather than as evidence of market mispricing before the divestiture announcements.