Page 13 - BOSS Today Issue 26

dealer groups, while MWA’s you have to commit to it in dealers selling through Amazon
research has found that the very terms of time and resources. need to continually work to
largest dealers tend to invest in If you planned to open a ensure that they offer a ‘state of
producing their own bespoke conventional ‘bricks and mortar’ the art’ e-commerce solution to
systems. store you wouldn’t just pitch their customers, and this means
a tent in a field and expect ongoing development to keep
Constant Change customers to find you and your pace with the market. We asked
Is Here To Stay products! E-commerce is no Paola White to offer some “It’s important
However, just investing in an different: it’s all about position suggestions as to what OP that if a
e-commerce site is only the and footfall, even if this is in dealers need to consider right
start. As Paola White, VP of the virtual world. You need to now to ensure that their online dealer has
Sales & Marketing for Europe provide your customers with presence is optimised.
for ECI Solutions, points out, as effortless an e-commerce special offers
while most OP dealers should experience as possible to 1. Keep It Fresh and promotions,
be getting 85% of their orders gain sales and loyalty. A lot of White’s first point is that it is
online on average, few are people don’t appreciate that. vital that the site is kept looking they get
actually achieving that: “It’s To achieve real e-commerce fresh: “It’s important that if a
not because the sites aren’t success requires a realistic dealer has special offers and refreshed.”
easy to navigate, it’s probably investment in time, focus and promotions, they get refreshed:
because they don’t have a good budget.” probably on a weekly basis. Paola White,
marketing team internally that In addition, for Howarth, Nectere are brilliant at doing ECI Solutions
understands how to market even the opportunities that: if you go to their site,
brands or products and push presented by Amazon create there are some special offers
them to the clients. Everybody an urgent and acute problem every week. Or they re-jig the
jumped on the bandwagon – and opportunity – for the placeholders – ie the places
in the early 1990s, saying ‘We OP industry: “For OP dealers, where the pictures go – so for a
need a web store!’ and so selling through Amazon and visitor it always looks fresh and
they put a web store up there eBay is challenging. Most interesting.”
but do nothing with it. If you dealers don’t make a significant White is keen to emphasise
had a high street shop, you’d margin selling though Amazon, that the e-commerce solutions
never not dress your window so many use it as a tool to providers are trying to make it
on a weekly basis, or put no gather customer lists. They as easy as possible for dealers
new promotions up there. You can then subsequently route to keep their sites fresh:
have got to keep enticing the these customers back to their “ECI Solutions and the other
customer to keep coming back.” own store, and if their store software houses are working
Iain Howarth, Managing then works more effectively on enabling the dealer to go in
Director of product data than Amazon’s they can make and, to a certain extent, design
provider Open Range, agrees: some money out of these their own sites. Of course,
“You can’t play with being transactions.” there’s a danger to that – if you
successful with e-commerce: So it’s clear that even OP are a bad designer you will get

February/March 2015 | BOSS TODAY 13

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