Digitalisation has revolutionized Sales. E-commerce has had a massive impact on consumer behaviour.
Customers nowadays prefer the ease and utility offered by companies like Big Basket and Amazon.
In this segment, we learnt how digitalisation has changed the sales process, and how companies are
maximising the effectiveness of the sales team.

 
You learnt about the phenomenon of information symmetry. It states that each and every piece of
information is available to everyone. Owing to this world of information symmetry, sales have
evolved in the following three areas:

1. Qualification criteria
2. Stakeholder selection
3. Nature of conversation
Through examples of American Express, you learnt how Sales evolved to understand the needs of
their customers better.

Further, through the example of Sanjeev purchasing a mobile phone, you learnt how multiple
factors influence the purchase decision nowadays.

Online shopping offers both utility and convenience, and this has resulted in the massive growth of
the e-commerce industry.

E-commerce offers the following major advantages:

● It is possible to place an order at any time from anywhere.

● Customers can compare similar products instantly.
● Genuine customer reviews give credibility to products, facilitating more sales.
● Customers can track their orders in real-time.
● Product delivery and returns are made as per the customer’s convenience.

Companies like Big Basket and Milk Basket have changed the market for perishable products like
milk and vegetables by selling these products directly to their customers’ house.

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With increased adoption of and access to technology, more and more companies today are vying to go online 
and sell their products to customers directly. The selling process is, in turn, undergoing a radical 
transformation. 
Companies today want to give customers the same, if not a better, experience compared with offline 
shopping. 
 
Technology has had an impact on the sales process due to freely available information. Companies such as 
Amazon and Flipkart are growing rapidly and are quite popular across different age demographics. 
 
You learnt about the depth and with problem of Sales: 

● Width Problem:​ There was no way for them to know whether or not their sales representatives were 
visiting all retail stores that were assigned to them. It could have been possible that a salesperson 
visited a handful of selected stores, without covering the entire region assigned to them. 
● Depth Problem: ​Companies could not know if the entire product line-up was being sold at all stores. 
For example, Nestle offers products like instant noodles (Maggi), coffee, chocolates and ketchup. 
Earlier, it was possible for a salesperson to meet their targets by selling only high-demand products 
[such as instant noodles (Maggi)] and not focusing on other products (such as coffee and chocolates). 

This problem was solved by providing each salesperson with a GPS tracking handheld device. 
 
The device allowed companies to track the movements of salespersons and the time they spent at each 
location. 
It brings transparency to the system, as companies can now track the activities of salespeople. 

Social media has also become an integral part of sales. People discuss their views and address their grievances 
directly to companies through various social media channels, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Most companies have a dedicated department to analyse the sentiment of people towards their products. 
 
They use machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyse discussion threads on platforms like Twitter 
and Reddit, and even analyse YouTube comments. 
This allows the sales department to make recommendations to other departments, such as Marketing and 
R&D, on what the audience appreciates and what are the areas that need improvement. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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