WEBSTORES
Streamlining sales For tech resellers looking to grow, a webstore can take a business to the next level, by providing access to a wealth of products, as well as bringing easier access to existing and potential clients. But how easy are they to create, optimise and use in practice?
Turning sales into orders has been an arduous, and expensive process for resellers for a long time. Although the personal touch has a certain charm that leads to customers coming back, in the modern working world, purchase and ordering has become a digitised process that can be done within a matter of minutes. As consumer purchasing continues to move further and further online, it’s no surprise that the commercial world needs to catch up. As a result, resellers are starting to explore webstores as a legitimate revenue stream. That revenue stream can pave the way for a better relationship with suppliers as Shane Gehlig, product manager Digital Space Wholesale, has found out. “Using an e-commerce portal has brought Digital Space a considerable amount of opportunities, of which 95% of transactions are now zero touch” said Gehlig. “In return, we have increased demand from our suppliers, who offer better pricing for our continued support, which feeds down to all our customers using the vertexKIT portal. As a result, Digital Space now has an additional revenue stream. “In essence; we have grown and increased our revenue stream while we sleep, reaching areas of the UK we have not even considered touching.” Sounds great, taking orders at all times of the day or night, even when your head is buried in a pillow is something not a lot of us would turn down, and the secondary effects are also compelling. As Richard Hislop, Channel Sales Manager at Stock in the Channel points out, having a webstore to take orders opens up additional services that businesses can offer. “The key is that focus has moved slightly away from only trying to gain new business, to offering the best service to existing business too. “Managing a sales team can be frustrating because they can have the same conversation with their clients every day. When this process is moved online to a self service platform,
Shane Gehlig product manager Digital Space Wholesale
customers can experience exactly the same day to day service they get today online. On top of that, resellers can offer features like order tracking, status updates and auditing in one place. “Speaking to resellers, those added features have been one of the things that has caught their eye. The idea of 24/7 sales is great, but when we outline the self-serve element, it means that employees can move away from filling out audit tables, and go out to meet customers, strike new relationships, and watch the orders flow once they’ve negotiated the contract.” Getting started As Hislop demonstrates, the modern webstore has evolved away from just a simple purchase and ordering platform to a fully integrated service that gives customers peace of mind if they have any questions relating to their orders. However, as with any great piece of technology, webstores require a commitment to setting up and consulting with Stock in the Channel, as well as engaging in upgrades and design changes. “Depending on what the customer wants, the setup can take up to six weeks,” said Hislop. “The initial setup covers server installation, integrating the store into Stock in the Channel , then designing the store. “These are part of the offering though, 10 years ago businesses didn’t have these options and every website looked exactly the
digitalspace.co.uk/ wholesale/
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Fundamentally
we have found success by thinking like a customer and trialling several scenarios
or promotions, and watching our customer engagement.
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