TradeMe – What’s in it for Our Own Businesses?

Who can forget the spectacular sale of popular online auction site TradeMe to Fairfax Holdings?  For many it was a success story of an idea, and of a small group of people committed to following through on that idea. The success and wealth created was no doubt discussed in many boardrooms, cafes and staffrooms throughout the country.

But what lessons can be learnt from TradeMe’s success?  And more particularly, what can your business learn from it?

What didTradeMe do? They:

• Had a great idea.
• Developed and perfected that idea.
• Continued (and are continuing) to expand the applications of that idea.
• Concentrated on providing what their customers wanted.
• Innovated and used modern technology.
• Marketed effectively, e.g. enormous exposure gained from the streaker ‘bikini sale’ and the Tana Umaga handbag episode without any advertising cost at all.
• Offered reasonable commission/fees.
• Listened to their customers and kept up with trends.
• Continually tried to improve.

While most of us will not hit the TradeMe jackpot, we can probably all improve our performance.  In particular, we should always be asking ourselves: “How can we do this better?”, “What do our customers want?” and “What else can we do for them?”

In the final analysis, what TradeMe did probably wasn’t rocket science, but they hit on a really good idea and then didn’t they do it well!  And as much as anything, it’s probably the “doing it” well that counts.  We can all copy that.