It’s surprising how many players in the channel don’t use online ordering to their advantage. From an immediacy point of view, you can instantly see the amount of stock and availability of the goods you’re looking for, and the price. In addition, many transactional sites will also show your account, shipping time, invoices, previous orders and so on.
So instead of being queued at the end of a phone line, why aren’t more people going online. Well, in fact, they are. But it’s proving a slow process . . . and then there’s the Irish love of chat and personal contact. But despite that, numerous organisations are building up a good online business in addition to the traditional method, and many of them are finding it a unique balancing act. On the one hand having cost and control efficiencies online while on the other making sure the customer doesn’t feel “pushed” onto the website and away from any human contact.
TNS Distribution has been developing and improving its website for the past two to three years. According to Ivan Eustace, co-founder of TNS, the website is finally beginning to bear the fruits of the labour poured into it. “We now have customers who’ll use the web all the time, and they’re the main advocates for change. So if they want something done they’ll mail our tech people … so it’s constantly evolving and never standing still.”
Fantastic web
Eustace said the dealer can log into the web and see all their account details, invoices, all current orders and back orders – virtually all of what the TNS sales team see. “We have quite a few customers who totally preach the web and do all their stuff online with very little communication; they might give us an occasional call.”
Eustace said the TNS marketing department is heavily involved in promoting the online system, and they often go to customers’ premises and train people in how to use the system. “It’s only now we’re seeing the figures coming in and we’re saying ‘Wow! The web is doing fantastic for us!’ It frees up the sales reps’ time to help all the customers in a more consultative way to solve problems rather than answering the phones for queries on product stock issues. You still have the customers out there who won’t use it. and who want the personal contact, and that can be flipped over – a lot of the reps here will want the contact as well because they’ve become friendly with the customers.”
TNS’s system was phased in slowly. Initially the system was upgraded a few years ago. The company then let selected resellers online to see what they thought. They suggested changes and then it was opened up to a few more dealers. Meanwhile, the company was pushing the site via mail shots and other forms of advertising to highlight the site and its benefits. There are now over 100 dealers using it and, for TNS, the investment has certainly paid off. “There were times when you’d be thinking – why aren’t they using it? So you keep on pushing and it’s great when you get mails telling you the website is fantastic and that they ‘didn’t know you could do such and such a thing on it. And I don’t have to hassle accounts for statements and invoices’,” said Eustace.
According to Elaine Ralph, a director of distributor MB Technology, about 38% of its business is conducted through its website. “We’re still very proactive in moving it forward – we’ve got a new system developed that’s due to launch soon. It’s where we allow our resellers to create their own website and create an administration area that’s linked to our server as well.”
Personal touch
Ralph said the company is trying to encourage customers to use the website because it has many benefits including reduced delivery charges. To further stimulate interest, MB also uses web-only offers. While there is a lot of concentration on developing the web side of the business, MB Technology is still keen to keep the personal touch. “We still have to have the personal side of it as well – it’s always nice to keep in contact with people and you will often have to negotiate on larger volume deals.” Ralph said the company was also looking at getting its customers to use the online service and link into the likes of ebay to be able to supply/sell on excess or end-of-life stock and so on.
MB Technology sees the main advantages of online trade as being ‘open’ 24 hours, real-time availability, time and money savings, the benefit of instant prices changes and ETA report. “What they see online is what we have on our system – real-time information is the main benefit in addition to account, statement and balance information.
“The online way of doing things is relatively new but the businesses are drifting towards the web. If a new account starts with us they’re given passwords and usernames immediately for the website.”
AVG has been using its website to sell its products for the past few years,and now has about 80% of its business coming from the websites. AVG delivers anti-virus products and so it makes sense for them to be using a transactional website because customers can quickly order, pay and download the product – thus getting instantaneous delivery. Nonetheless, some people still like to purchase the box and CD, and that section needs to be catered for as well. “We don’t really push people to the websites,” said AVG’s operations manager Joe Benning. “We let them do whatever they prefer to do, though using the website to order has huge advantages such as 24/7 availability. The phone can be slow; you’ve got to give your details then they are taken down and input into a database, and so on. Online it takes a few minutes whereas over the phone it can take up to 15 minutes.
“Most people are busy during the day and don’t want to be talking to someone about anti-virus software. The website is where you can download all our software, documentation and information.”
Benning said online sales involved less cost for the vendor and for the customers, with the order being processed straight away.
AVG’s site became transactional about a year and a half ago, and it went that way because the customers were calling for it so that product could be ordered at times that suited them. AVG’s Ireland site recently went live and is accepting orders for product. “It’s going rather well and we’re waiting till the end of the quarter to release results on how it’s doing. Feedback tells us a lot of our Irish customers are now using it in preference to the AVG UK site.”
Faster transactions
While the use of websites is on the rise, it can still be difficult to get customers to break traditional habits and use the net. Paul Sweetman, MD of ISA Ireland, an IT consumables distributor, said the UK arm of the business is seeing 45% trade through the web, whereas in Ireland it’s at 15% – though growing at a steady pace. “I think that’s really down to the fact that in Ireland people do want to talk with people. It’s not a reflection on the site, because it’s one of the best in the industry – our resellers prefer to talk to us on the phone and they prefer that type of service. And that’s an obstacle we’ve got to overcome – we want to keep the personal service and human element, but we want to encourage our users to try the online service and see the benefits of it. Once they’ve tried it, they generally don’t go back.”
He added: “It’s a work in progress. It’s slower than we’d like but we’ve got to get the balance right – and the customer will dictate how they want to do business. If that’s over the phone, we’ll invest in technology to support that. And, if we have to, we’ll invest in more staff. Ideally, we want to invest more in the online side because ultimately we believe that’ll give customers an even better service.”
One of the tools on ISA’s website allows resellers to link to all the manufacturers’ websites and download all their marketing information and materials so they can design e-shots and literature and up-to-date industry information.
Sweetman said the web really speeds up transactions and gets the customer an immediate response. “It really gives control to the user/reseller in terms of what they want. And there’s the cost element as well: if they’re spending less time on the phone and more time driving their business, that’s a big advantage. For us electronic orders are cheaper than doing it via paper. And we can spend more time driving more account management activities: looking after the customers and so on.”
ISA Ireland also tries to encourage its customers by offering online discounts and in-house training on how to use the system. “It’s a slow process but it is growing and, by the end of year, we should have 20% of our business going through the site. Next year we’ll be looking to double that target without any sacrifice of the customer service element.”
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers