Cambaceo is the name given to one of the oldest sales strategies, in which a person is involved in offering a product or service directly to each of their potential buyers or customers. It is, in other words, the “face to face” or “door to door” sales system.
The seller is usually the producer or manufacturer of some good or service, although it can also be a professional seller hired for this purpose. For example, an insurance company representative visits potential clients in their offices to try to sell them their services.
The cambaceo system, as it was conceived in its beginnings, has been falling into disuse since it emerged as a way to bring products closer to consumers geographically distant from urban areas and formally established markets.
However, cambaceo remains a current form of sale and, in some cases, very successful. This is the case with catalog sales of beauty products or household items, the so-called “multi-tier sales”, which employ salespeople who are moving up the scale as they recruit more people to multiply sales.
In addition, traditional “door-to-door” providers continue to exist, especially in rural areas without access to the Internet and without a wide range of goods and services available.
Main features of cambaceo
– About products and services for people geographically distant from shopping centers or for those who, for some reason, cannot move to these centers.
– Offers a relatively small quantity and variety of products or services.
-The products are offered directly or are shown through catalogs with photographs; In this case, the customer selects the products to his liking and the seller delivers them on the next visit.
-Allows the commercial transaction of goods and services for people who are not included in the formal financial system, that is, for those who do not have a credit card, bank account, etc.
– Usually has no advertising in the mass media and uses rudimentary home marketing.
– Because it is not immersed in the formal commercial system, cambaceo allows offering better prices, as it does not have additional costs such as advertising, distribution and payment of taxes that make the products more expensive.
Thanks to the direct treatment with the consumer, cambaceo allows payment facilities adapted to the possibilities of each customer.
Advantages of cambaceo
-The seller has the possibility to meet his customer directly, without intermediaries, and interact with him as often and as needed in his place of residence or work.
-This personal contact provides the merchant with first-hand knowledge of their consumer, which is a very valuable tool for the development of their products.
-For the customer, this direct and personal contact also guarantees sufficient and adequate information before purchasing the product, assuring them that it will be exactly what they expect and want from it.
– Allows you to make an exhaustive and particular assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of the product or service you offer.
-Easy to make necessary changes or adjustments to better meet consumer needs.
Establish a relationship of trust and knowledge that is not possible through other forms of more massive sales.
-Allows commercial transactions for people who are not included in the banking system.
-This direct contact and intimate knowledge of the customer, allows the seller to grant domestic credits, installments for convenience and usually interest-free, in addition to other benefits, to people who were not always able to obtain it in the formal market.
All this is achieved on the basis of a relationship of trust and moral commitment.
-Omitting many steps of the commercial chain, the product reaches the consumer’s hands with less cost, more economical.
-The latter also means less expense for the producer.
Disadvantages of cambaceo
-The producer or seller has a limited range of actions, defined by geographic scope.
-The customer has few or limited options compared to those offered by major markets.
-They don’t have access to advertising in the mass media, so they have little or no ability to compete with big brands or formal establishments.
-The business relationship depends on very few people, with whom the maintenance of this relationship becomes fragile at both ends, that is, if the buyer disappears or if the seller disappears.
-In an increasingly insecure world, it is also increasingly difficult to get a customer to open their doors to an unknown seller.
The cambaceo today
We said earlier that Cambrian is an ancient business practice, and as it was originally conceived, it has fallen out of favor due to the emergence of technology.
But instead of weakening, Cambodia has mutated, getting stronger thanks to these new tools offered by the modern world.
It is a fact that door-to-door sales by this ex-seller of milk, brooms and utensils is increasingly unthinkable in large cities.
But just look at the attitude of politicians in times close to the elections to discover a new way of cambaceo.
The “print” or the house-to-house visit of candidates is clearly a direct sale, in which promises are offered and votes are solicited as a form of payment.
On the other hand, it is increasingly common to see how companies of all types and sizes offer their products or services through the online platform. And this is done as much by large established companies as the small producer or the independent craftsman.
It is a new form of cambaceo in which the seller – no longer flesh and blood, but finally seller – keeps knocking on the door of every house to virtually offer his wares. The doorbell is now online advertising.
Thanks to the constant optimization of technological resources, the offer to the consumer has been expanded, enriched in terms of its characteristics, specifications and information, as well as the geographical reach that the producer can reach has been extended almost unlimitedly.
The well-known e-commerce is nothing more than a “digital exchange” that has become a very useful tool for:
- Launching new products and running promotions
- Request “trials” or product trials from key customers
- Create brand loyalty: the consumer identifies with a product that he considers suited to him and with a brand that speaks directly to him
- Minimize costs by reaching exactly the target audience
- Generate greater profitability.
Seen from this angle, the Cambrian, far from dying, managed, like few others, to adapt to changes and new realities. He’s more alive than ever and he’s here to stay.
