Keeping your sales network on side

Despite the pervasiveness of the net and its ability to be a 24x7 shop for our products, there will always be customers who want to physically see the goods before they buy.

An e-commerce enabled web site, therefore, should be integrated into existing structures and not viewed as a replacement for established networks of agents and selling partners. Ultimately, the e-commerce site is about giving customers choice – when they shop, how they pay, etc. But into this equation should also be ‘how they buy’.

Freedom of choice

We give customers the choice of paying by Visa, MasterCard, debit card, cheque, etc., so why not the opportunity to see the product up close and personal by visiting local firm, J. Bloggs who stocks our goods?

Not only are we making ourselves ‘easy to do business with’ by giving site visitors another purchasing option, we’re also keeping our established selling partners happy too.

An extra page on our site with a drop down menu of towns is all that’s required to promote a network of stockists. After selecting a town or city, users are taken to the appropriate part of the page where they can view full contact details of your selling partner.

Pricing strategy

Before implementing this type of partner look up feature on your site, some thought will be required on the issue of pricing.

Generally, users will expect prices online to be cheaper. How much cheaper is an interesting debate.

On the one hand, you don’t want to cut the throats of your network by selling below retail. But on the other, there are cost-savings to be made by selling online and some of these can be passed on to the web customer.

Remember to take shipping costs into account as this will obviously influence the bottom line for those purchasing directly from the site. Equally, to keep your partners on side, afford them the ability to discount your product so they can compete with you.