Jumping In

SITUATION

I was the CEO of a small firm in the pool and spa industry, and wanted our firm to have an Internet presence. I didn't want to pay for web hosting just to show an expensive version of ``HERE WE ARE!" I was more interested in the e-commerce side of the Internet. The site had to produce revenue or it wasn't going to be worth doing. In addition to producing revenue, I wanted the web site to provide an alternative method of marketing to present our products to the general pool and spa public. The main difficulty was that I had committed the company to selling through trade channels, in this case pool dealers and distributors. Going direct to the public would in all likelihood cost us our channel partners that we had worked so hard to develop. How could I market to the public and sell our products without alienating our core customers?

ACTION

I realized that the only way to make the project work was to involve our trade channels partners in the process, and make the company's success their success as well. I created a web site concept that incorporated a gateway that included both a public and private site. If you were a pool or spa consumer you could get advice and purchase products through the web site. I involved the trade partners by arranging for our larger dealers to accept and fulfill all web site orders. In this way, the dealer or distributor did not feel that we were cutting them out of the loop, but in fact providing an opportunity to increase their sales. The consumer on the other hand felt they were ordering direct from the manufacturer. As an added bonus, our channel partners could enter the password-protected area and check on order status, delivery, and special promotions and offers.

RESULT

Our largest dealers functioned as the consumer fulfillment centers. The dealers maintained their margins, and our company was able to avoid the additional expense of a retail fulfillment operation. By doing this, we were able to focus on our core business of shipping truckloads of product. The program quickly covered and exceeded the costs of maintaining the web site and gave a much-needed boost to our targeted end users and trade partners.

Jumping in the Internet Pool
By
Rob Coxworth
of Gray Hair Management, LLC