Many of you may have
heard the story about a man who comes to the city in search of livelihood. He
approaches a potato trader who offers him a spot under his stall and a sack of
potatoes to sell every day. Every morning this man would take a sack of
potatoes, sell all the potatoes during the day and pay the trader at the end of the
day. What the trader noticed was that this man would sell the potatoes at the
same price that he bought from the trader. This went on for almost a month and
finally the trader asked him as to how he made money if he was selling potatoes at
the same price that he bought them. The man smiles and tells the trader that he
makes no money by selling potatoes but he makes money by selling the sack that the
potatoes come in.
Come to the present day
of e-tailing. Here we have Mr. X buying goods online for his
friends and neighbours. He doesn't charge them anything extra for the
purchases. So where does he make money. Very simple, it's on the packaging.
Most e-tailers are sending their goods in new corrugated paper packaging with
bubble wraps and air filled polythene buffers so that the goods don't get
damaged. Recycle and reuse and that is where you make money.
And here is an interesting fact. If you return
any of the goods or exchange them, only the goods get picked up and not the
packaging. Thusly you still make money. Enjoy..