Business owner Michelle D presented a guest lecture to the third-year Marketing Management students in 2019 on how personal selling differs in the online space compared to in-store.

 

Michelle D runs her company, Macaroon Collection, and is a known television personality. Her passion for education has prompted a return to her alma mater to present a guest lecture.

 

Her inspiring entrepreneurial spirit helped her create Macaroon Collection, an online store that sells a variety of handbags, shoes and fashion accessories. She shared her story with students of how her online store began in 2012 with a simple Facebook advertisement of a few bags that she posted on her personal Facebook account. The bags sold out and thereafter more bags were purchased for resale. She expanded her inventory and eventually opened a Facebook page dedicated towards selling bags and scarves. A year later, Michelle successfully established Macaroon Collections’ official online store.

 

The information shared about Macaroon Collection provided students with a tangible case to apply their knowledge of personal selling in an online environment. Today, Macaroon Collection boasts over 120 000 Facebook followers, 11 000 fans on Instagram, and hundreds of orders every month.

 

During the presentation, students were made aware of the fact that there are notable differences between personal selling online and personal selling offline. Although online retail provides convenience for consumers, there are challenges facing online retailers that come with providing such convenience, including abandoned carts, infinite consumer choice, competition, returns and refunds and consumers’ need to further engage their senses in the online shopping experience. Michelle D concluded the session with some “how to’s” for students to think about regarding strategies that are beneficial to retailers or entrepreneurs who would like to find success in personal selling online.

 

Guest lecturer Michelle D (front row, fifth from the left) and lecturer Sotira Petrou (front row, sixth from the left) with third-year BCom Marketing Management students