IBC FOCUS: White Label & Marketing Gateway
www.ibcbuyinggroup.com
BRANDED E-COMMERCE WEBSITES FOR INDEPENDENT MERCHANTS When it comes to e-commerce websites, the COVID pandemic intensified a trend
that the builders’ merchant industry was already experiencing – the shift towards customers searching for and purchasing products online.
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uilders’ merchants have been gradually introducing e-commerce websites for the past decade, but a recent survey found that, since the pandemic began, 46% of UK consumers purchased a product online that they had previously only ever purchased in store.
But building a brand-new e-commerce website from scratch can be expensive, and can consume significant time and resources that independent merchants are often unable to commit. That means many independent merchants do not have their own e-commerce sites, leaving them falling behind in the race towards digital shopping solutions.
That’s why IBC Buying Group has introduced the IBC web platform – a powerful e-commerce solution built specifically for IBC members, that can give them access to a fully integrated website system that can be set up quickly and easily. This proven e-commerce system is designed and built to integrate with product data from IBC’s own Supplier Partners, helping to automate the e-commerce process and boosting IBC members’ potential profits by enabling them to sell goods online.
It also offers IBC members a straightforward way to manage their latest stock allocation, online orders, location information and customer records in a low-cost, mobile-friendly website and secure online administration system. By taking advantage of the IBC website solution, IBC members can have a fully integrated website tailored to their own specific needs and their business identity. Each website will be branded specifically for that individual merchant business, all with the backup of an award- winning marketing agency, OneAgency, that provides ongoing support.
IBC members can choose which products are displayed on the site, and can decide the selling prices and all relevant delivery details. A flexible choice of design templates allows members to sell to both existing customers and a brand-new audience, with first-class functionality including: • Fully customised mobile-friendly templates,
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branded in the merchant’s colours • Server set-up, integration and management • The website is linked with a new or existing website domain • IBC product feed integration and provision • Advanced digital marketing opportunities • Unlimited CMS product and category management • E-commerce customer and product management • Worldpay secure payment integration • Management dashboard for easy-to-use business marketing support
What are the advantages to the builders’ merchant? The IBC member will see the immediate advantage of having a fully integrated digital marketing system, designed around their own business’ needs. The website will automatically import IBC new products as they become available, saving the merchant hundreds of hours of website and product management. The merchant can benefit from being able to manage prices, promotions, stock and rich media, as well as secure customer information, sales and delivery data. One major advantage for IBC members is that the system operates via a simple monthly payment which includes design and marketing support time. Full training is included, and there are straightforward instructions for the merchant to follow.
Remote training meetings can also be set up to suit each individual members’ needs. As well as the extensive data available through IBC’s Supplier Partners, members can also add additional content and specialist products as they choose, giving the merchant full control of what they sell online. Tony Newcombe, IBC marketing manager, said: “OneAgency’s experience came to the fore, in design, knowledge, support and opportunity to help our members grow in the digital marketplace, also allowing the flexibility for each member to tailor the solution to their business. This new professional enhancement
for members further delivers the IBC ethos of being more than a buying group.”
A gateway to full marketing support
Coming soon for IBC members is a brand- new Marketing Gateway that will give them a new way to send tailored marketing and promotional material out to their customers. Through IBC’s Marketing Gateway, accessible via the IBC Portal, members will have access to templates of marketing collateral such as posters and leaflets, that they can use to highlight particular products or promotions to their customers both in-store and via their email and print customer marketing lists. Once they have accessed the Gateway, IBC members can tailor the templates with their own logo, brand colours and prices, using product images automatically available via IBC’s exclusive Product Database. This means they can create tailored, branded marketing quickly and easily, saving them hours of design time and without the costs usually associated with employing a design agency or graphic designer. The Marketing Gateway will soon be launched with a wide range of templates for posters and leaflets, with brochures and many other marketing templates due to be introduced in the coming months. Once the templates have been adapted for the IBC member business, they can either download them instantly ready to print themselves, or they can arrange to have them printed via IBC and its Service Provider Thinkprint, which can arrange to have the collateral printed and delivered to any IBC member branch or address at competitive prices.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2024
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