09.01.2014

Interesting is the life of an e-commerce manager, especially when working in companies with more ground-based institutions. Often in such companies operating in multiple sales channels, e-commerce is the most underinvested sales channel. With little resources, we must look for smart solutions, and often support for increasing budgets "on the Internet."

From the point of view of the responsible for this channel should be in store for additional value beyond the (initially not too impressive compared to the traditional channels), income and difficult to grasp ROPO effect. To grow you need to invest, and to convince the board to invest, you need to have some arguments. These may be the conclusions of web analytics and the surrounding area that can be presented to other divisions in the organization.

So how e-commerce can be useful for other departments in the organization?

1. For the Board: Are our processes operate efficiently? Social media websites with the opinions work as a magnifying glass, so whatever is going on in our company right or wrong – there rump in the same way, only more so. If the sales network, the process of complaint or phone customer service sucks, it certainly will be demonstrated on the basis of customer reviews on the Internet. Is this should stop us to the presence of e-commerce or in social media? No. Just as the lack of a thermometer is not released from the fever, so the lack of e-commerce does not solve the malfunctioning processes. Online presence can be catalyst of change for the better – the first step to recovery is to accept that you are sick. Management Board which will be presented hard data, rarely is idle.
2. For the director of development: Do we build new branches in the right places? Development Directors decide on the location of another institution based on parameters such as the purchasing power of the population, the level of rent, the competitiveness of the local market, population density, distance from the city center and many others. Web analytics can add to this list answers the questions: Where do we ship a package? In which institutions are most often received packages? Additional support for each subsequent opening of the sale (and premium development director) may be geographically Targeted mailing with discount coupon to use in the new location.
3. For the procurement manager and sales director: How our prices are to the prices of the competition? Thanks comparison of prices, and the project Price Panorama for a moment, we are able to compare our prices in relation to the large number of entities. As soon able to determine whether our competitors differentiate prices offline from online we are able to take a coherent position and set a pricing strategy for a more competitive track – also in ground institutions.
4. For directors of sales and logistics: What products our customers consider complementary? Based on analysis of the structure of shopping cart we can learn how to connect products in ground institutions or in storage. If customers have marinade X and steak Y, we should consider linking them in a promotional package in the store or place them next to each other in the warehouse so that the packer can pack complete it quickly and move on to handle the orders. The leader in this type of optimizations logistics Amazon is of course.
5. For procurement manager and marketing director: We can check what customers are looking for in our browser and at what phrases and slogans they came to us. In addition to the merit is great fun, because our users can write amazing things on Google. After analysis, we can optimize the purchasing policy and provide them the products they were looking at and could not find it. If the purpose of marketing is to satisfy our existing needs, rather than creating new, the advertising of which enjoy the greatest interest, including outside the Internet, it may be the right way.
6. For sales manager: Do our goods are second-hand market? In some sectors the secondary market takes some initial distribution business. Look how much we are such a industry we can check through Manubię, which will examine the most popular auction sites in Poland for the products of our brand. With this information, we can consider running the sale of products used in or attempt to convert customers from the secondary market for the original.
7. For the director of marketing: One of the criteria on which addictive the bonuses in the marketing department sometimes reach or intensity of the impact of the loyalty program. In this parameter, the e-commerce site with quality, large database of mailing and stable group of customers can be very helpful in building coverage of such action and convert online loyal customers to loyal multichannel customers.

As you can see, in addition to new revenue, increased visibility in the target group and the effect ROPO, e-commerce has a lot to offer, sometimes in distant areas of the organization itself.

Bartosz Majewski
New business developer Divante, Grupa OEX