Wholesale
Overview
Wholesale refers to the sale of goods to anyone other than a standard consumer. It is the “resale (sale without transformation) of new and used goods to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional or professional users, other wholesalers, or involves acting as an agent or broker in buying merchandise for, or selling merchandise to, such persons or companies.”
The internet has presented wholesalers with many exciting opportunities, from an effective communication and promotional platform to streamlining the purchasing process. As businesses become used to interacting online, ensure that you are giving your wholesale business every chance by embracing modern online technologies.
CORE BENEFITS
Password Protect Product Catalogues
It’s important to wholesalers that you protect your existing customer base. That’s why you don’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry being able to purchase from your online store. The registration feature allows you to capture membership requests from interested parties and only grant access if they meet your criteria. This member’s data is then automatically captured in the Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) for future interpretation.
Full Wholesaler eCommerce Functionality
Whether you want to receive online credit card payments or add charges to an existing account the Online Now solution has your wholesaler business covered. Customers that wish to pay on an account will receive details on their order's progress and details will be constantly updated in their membership account. Quantity based discounting will also allow you to encourage up selling and drive sales through your shop.
Easy Editing & Ongoing Updates
Don’t rely on a third party for costly updates; ensure that you can easily access your wholesaler website to make changes and updates to the site as your business grows. Not only can you control the content and copy of your site, but you can add entirely new sections and products.
Integrated marketing and customer relationship tools
The integrated Email Campaign Manager (ECM) will allow you to send out email events to your prospects and customers. The Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) will enable you to search your database across actions such as recent purchases, profile criteria or email behaviors such as opens, clicks or bounces. This then allows you to create highly targeted email events that will drive traffic to your online shop.
Conclusion
Wholesalers have a great opportunity to embrace new web technologies and efficiently drive sales through the internet. With advances in tracking and email marketing they can now build rich, detailed profiles on how their customers and prospects are interacting with their website. Talk to Online Now today about how our cost effective Wholesaler Website Development packages could suit your business.
Recommended Modules
- Base CMS
- CMS Plus
- SEO Pack
- Membership
- Online Shop
- Email Marketing
- Communications
- CRM Pack
IS Gift
Visit Live Site
IS (Independence Studios) was established in 1987 as a wholesaler of Home-wares, Gifts and Specialty Toys. Servicing the Australian and New Zealand market they exclusively represent some of the greatest brands from around the world.
What they we looking for
IS had been using the internet to promote their product range and receive online orders from existing clients but the original site lacked the ability to edit and update and was looking tired. It was important that the new site not only communicated with existing clients but also promoted their product range to prospects and grew their client base. They needed to communicate a unique message with 3 separate audiences: the General Public (GP), New Zealand (NZ) customers and Australian (AUS) customers.
The GP catalogue was designed to increase their Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) footprint and allow the general public to browse before requesting for site membership. The NZ and AUS catalogues were password protected to allow only registered users to make purchases in their respective country catalogues.
IS also wanted a marketing platform that would allow them to reach out and drive sales. We integrated their Blog and Email Marketing requirements into the one system to give them an easy to manage, scalable online platform to grow their business.
Design
IS Gift are an innovative brand that supplies unique and exciting lifestyle products to the Australian and New Zealand market. Having a website design that supported this creative focus was very important so they opted for Online Now’s top design package, Premium.
The design needed to look professional while presenting the products in a clean and simple way that promoted purchasing. The use of DHTML on the home page header and editable banners throughout gives IS total control over the creative evolution of the site. The structured segmentation of the site into the 3 main categories allows the user to easily navigate throughout and the associated products feature ensures consistent user flow.
Studies have shown that an eCommerce website design has a significant effect on the amount of time a user spends on a site, number of products viewed and in turn total value of purchases. Having an eCommerce presence that was clean, simple and easy to navigate has been critical to the overall success of the IS project.
Features
The IS site takes advantage of many of Online Now’s most advanced features. From the Membership Module to protect the AUS and NZ catalogues to the use of Home Page highlighting to promote particular products. The site is a powerful yet flexible eCommerce solution.
The eCommerce module has the tax feature enabled to allow for separate AUS and NZ GST costs while quantity based discounting allows IS to discount based on purchase volume.
Understanding purchase behavior and trends is important and the built in Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) allows IS to collect information on how prospects are interacting with the site. This includes purchases, login details and even if they are clicking or opening email campaigns.
Conclusion
The new IS Gift website has been designed to present their extensive product range in a clean and simple format. The site has been segmented into 3 distinct areas: the NZ and AUS areas allow customers to navigate and make purchases while not having to trawl through irrelevant catalogues while the General Public section improves their SEO ranking and drives registrations.
The site has been extremely well received by IS Gift's existing customers and has had a great impact in delivering new customers. The integrated marketing tools give the team total control over their online marketing while the CMS gives them full control over site updates and the creative direction of the site.
