BOOSTING THE CARIBBEAN REGIONAL ECONOMY: PART 2/3

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The rising popularity of “marketplace buying” has been driven by many factors. For buyers, they offer convenience, competitive pricing, greater choice, ease of reference and choice – the ability to easily search a wide array of products across multiple categories. For brands and sellers, they provide an accessible, cost-effective route to new markets, allowing them to reach millions of potential new customers with less risk and logistical support. Their near-universal appeal is reflected by the fact that marketplace shopping has risen across practically all demographics. 

Ranging between 72% and 77% of Millennials, Gens X and Gen Z regularly use online marketplaces as their main shopping outlet with only the “Baby Boomers” falling outside of this range. The same rationale supports the development of the Karib One platform. It provides an electronic B2B online marketplace, where entities are validated to ensure that they are bona fide businesses. It will not only provide an online storefront but, there will be one-to-one e-commerce capabilities and other services linked to customs and market entry services.

There are essentially two types of marketplaces; general marketplaces covering a wide range of products or services and specialist marketplaces that are often focused on a specialist niche. KaribOne is a general marketplace that caters to a wide range of import-export-trading activity, as well as buyers and suppliers. KaribOne will provide significant benefits, especially among the small to medium-sized sector (SME).