News, tactics, and views for cross-channel commerce ISSN 1362-2315 - issue 186 - November/December 2010
Blurring the line between business and consumer
By Miri Thomas
Selling to both businesses and consumers is by no means a new practice. Isle of Man-based florist Post-a-Rose, for example, has had a b-to-b element in place for almost nine years and managing director Mark Hotchkiss says he plans to grow this part of the business following back- office improvements. Recently, we have seen more examples of
companies extending their services beyond their traditional offering, including John Lewis, Virginia Hayward and Lyco Direct, a b-to-b catalogue of lighting and related accessories. Lyco unveiled its consumer website in August after increased demand for household light fittings. Customers can now shop via
LightingforHomes.co.uk and Lyco has hinted at further range expansion in 2011.
Switching sides
John Lewis is no stranger to corporate sales; it has been active in the incentive and rewards market since 2003, selling food hampers, wine, gifts, and vouchers. For the past two years, says Andrew Sellers, development manager for corporate sales, John Lewis has been receiving increasing interest in customers wishing to purchase furniture for commercial use. A soft launch in 2009 saw the retailer send a general b-to-b mailer that provided information on all its corporate offers, including furniture. The service was officially launched this past
summer when John Lewis sent its first Solutions for Business brochure featuring furniture products aimed predominantly at buyers in the tourism, leisure and educational sectors. Notably, John Lewis has not introduced new ranges for its trade customers. The items in the brochure are from its general stock, “except electrical goods and mattresses, which have been approved for commercial use,” says Sellers. The gains from opening up your business
to both consumers and trade buyers are obvious—a larger customer base, higher average
News
pages 2-6 Johnnie Boden won’t open more stores, Christopher Ward switches from catalogue to magazine, more
On the opposite end of the scale is Virginia
Hayward, a b-to-b supplier of food gifts, which is facing its own challenges in adapting its service. Its new project,
YourHamper.com, is a consumer site that allows individuals to customise their purchase—from the message on the hamper, to the choice of its contents. The venture has been in the planning since early 2009 and was officially launched in October. Alex Walker, marketing manager at Virginia
order values, evening out of seasonal peaks, and maximising the selling opportunities from your existing product range. But as with most new ventures, there are pitfalls to avoid. Currently, customers cannot place Solutions for Business orders online, “primarily because of payments,” says Sellers. The website, he says, is not geared for corporate sales, “most customers want invoicing, and pay by BACS or CHAPS”. The site also does not have the ability to discount or reserve stock for corporate customers. A b-to-b site is under consideration, but John Lewis is not rushing into anything.
Tactics
pages 8-23 Special focus: Looking ahead—11 trends for 2011, plus highlights from ECMOD, and more
Hayward, says the company is currently promoting the site, but search-engine optimisation is proving tricky. “It’s a very difficult nut to crack as we’re a niche product trying to fight for visibility in a very crowded market.” Among the difficulties is knowing which keywords to optimise for, “obvious keywords are ‘personalised hampers’ and variations thereof, [but] the concept is so new that the vast majority of consumers are unlikely to start a search around this phrase; they’re more likely to be searching for ‘gifts’ or ‘personalised gifts’, find the idea and purchase in that way.” In addition to challenges
promoting the new lines, there are also logistical difficulties
to overcome. For the first time, Virginia Hayward has an internal lead time for picking and packing, whereas before, ready-assembled hampers would be available for despatch
almost immediately after an order is placed. But Walker is upbeat about overcoming these teething problems, “it’s a new way of working for us and means that we’ll have to work hard to find efficient ways of doing things so that we can maintain our excellent standards, as well as customer expectations in terms of delivery.”
Views
pages 24-35 Herschell Gordon Lewis on copy, a review of the NCT catalogue, Q&A with Lucy Jewson of Frugi
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