Chris Aiello Digital Strategy and E-commerce
Over the last six years, I have spoken with many people in our industry about their company’s digital strategy, more specifically e-commerce and selling their products online. With November being the start of the holiday shopping season, especially online shopping, I thought it would be fitting to write about this topic as e-commerce and digital strategies continue to gain momentum in our industry.
Digital Strategy
There are many elements you must consider when developing a digital strategy for your business. These elements include digital marketing and advertising, customer communication channels, search engine optimization (SEO), and e-commerce. As I noted in last month’s article, the material handling industry is primarily B2B and these customers increasingly expect B2C convenience and customer experience. Therefore, creating such an experience should be the foundation of your digital strategy. Also, be sure to take note of what your competitors are doing. In addition, be mindful of what your suppliers and manufacturers are doing.
As you consider these elements of your strategy, you need to determine what the goals of your strategy are. Are you looking to increase sales? Are you looking to target new audiences? Are you looking to improve how you appear on search engines? Determine what is most important and tailor your strategy accordingly.
For example, if one of the goals of your digital strategy includes growing the sales of your product portfolio, then your focus and efforts would need to be on the development of an e-commerce site or platform for your customers to purchase your products from you online. If one of the goals of your digital strategy is to increase your brand awareness and customer engagement, then your focus would be on digital marketing through various channels such as social media and email. If you are looking to target new audiences and increase customer leads, your focus should then be on search engine optimization and targeted content marketing. These various elements of your company’s digital strategy need to be considered during the analysis stage of your digital strategy plan.
Ecommerce
Ecommerce was on an accelerated growth pace, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. As you know, store closures and fear of getting COVID-19 during the pandemic created a major shift in consumer buying behavior, which further accelerated this growth pace. This growth was not just exclusive to things we became accustomed to ordering online like shoes, apparel, and electronics; things like groceries and fast food were now being purchased online by consumers that may not otherwise have purchased online prior to the pandemic. As with everything else, that B2C customer experience and shift of buying behavior to the ease of online transactions is now an expectation of your customers and prospective customers in the B2B world.
It is important, now more than ever, to provide customers with the option to purchase your products online. However, you need to be strategic about what you are setting out to accomplish with your e-commerce site. Let us say, for example, that the goal of your e-commerce site is to increase the sales of your products through your parts department. Awesome! Turn on the e-commerce switch and watch the parts department sales grow, sounds simple, right? Not so fast, there are a few things to consider and missteps to avoid as you look to deploy an e-commerce site as part of your digital strategy.
One misstep I see that dealerships make when developing their e-commerce site is the lack of automation. Your site should not only be an intuitive and seamless experience for your customers but should also be a seamless transaction for your business. What I mean is that you do not want the transaction to be ‘clunky’ for your staff which creates additional manual steps to process an e-commerce order. Talk with your suppliers, many offer web services integration that allows for real-time pricing, availability, and order submission.
Another misstep along those lines is the service level that accompanies the e-commerce experience. Make sure your e-commerce site allows for easy contact with your customer service staff as needed. Therefore, be sure to implement features like chat, a dedicated phone line, and a dedicated email address or online contact submission form. You still need to keep in mind that your service level will set you apart from the competition. Furthermore, a great user experience in this regard may lead to other opportunities for your other products and services such as new equipment, rentals, or service work.
Another consideration, which I feel is one of the most important, will your e-commerce site interface with your ERP business system? If you are operating on an older business system, this could potentially create limitations for those looking to interface their site with their system. Talk with your ERP provider; see what resources they have available to assist with integrating your business system and your e-commerce platform.
Additionally, consider how you will price your products online. I would recommend exploring a ‘Login’ model. This allows your current and loyal customers to have another avenue to purchase your products but also allows for special, discounted, and volume-based pricing for those customers with a unique login as needed. In addition, will your pricing model be static or dynamic? This is a topic we can explore in future articles.
Finally, seek feedback from your existing customers. Identify any potential “pain points” that exist for customers that purchase your products today. You want your e-commerce site to provide them with the ability to self-service and the ability to order your products at their convenience.
Having a good e-commerce site will not only help you retain and grow existing loyal customers, but it will also attract new customers and help build your brand.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Simply stated, search engine optimization, or SEO, is the battle for the top listing on a given search engine page. More importantly, since Google is the market share leader in the search engine space, let us call it the battle on Google search. You can develop the most intuitive, user-friendly website and e-commerce platform, however, if you cannot be found at the top of a Google search page then obviously you are missing potential customers and business.
There is plenty of information out there on SEO, so not my intention here to define SEO or the differences between B2C SEO and B2B SEO. The point is to ensure your marketing team or whomever you enlist to oversee your e-commerce site, understands who your target customer is. They should consider the buying journey of the audience you are targeting and want to attract to your e-commerce site. So be sure to make SEO a part of your digital strategy and focus on implementing the best practices.
If you do not already have a digital strategy in place, now is the time to develop one for 2023. Dealers that have a good digital strategy in place will prove to be successful as the expectations of customers continue to evolve in this industry. Dealers who have shifted to rely more on digital technologies will continue to improve the customer experience and will enhance the interactions between their customers and their sales teams.
About the Author:
Chris Aiello is the Business Development Manager at TVH Parts Co. He has been in the equipment business for 15-plus years as a service manager, quality assurance manager, and business development manager. Chris now manages a national outside sales team selling replacement parts and accessories in various equipment markets such as material handling, equipment rental, and construction/earthmoving dealerships.
