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
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.
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 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.”
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