Marketing Matters

Marketing Matters is a regular column in Windows Industries written by MRA on behalf of Network Veka. The latest article in the series is reproduced below and previous articles can be downloaded using the links at the bottom of the page.

Selling windows on the web

Like it or not, online is an important part of our everyday lives. Department stores, supermarkets, specialist retailers, home improvement stores, banks, financial services, travel, entertainment and leisure, offering online shopping is now the norm. It’s easy and convenient, saves time and labour, and it’s unremarkable. It makes choice simple. Most of your customers do it. An increasing number do it from their smart phones before work, at work in their office or on site, parked in a lay-by or at home after work or at the weekend. They are used to buying online, any time, with the flexibility to add to or change their order.

However, some retailers initially saw the internet as a threat, and saw no reason to adopt it. They didn’t want to weaken their relationship with customers, reasoning that people prefer face-to-face contact over impersonal internet connections. They would lose the opportunity to sell associated purchases if people weren’t prompted by counter staff or by seeing product on the shelf. And with huge investment in property what if customers did all their business online, leaving retailers with redundant staff and white elephant premises? Choosing between property – the ‘bricks’ and online ‘clicks’ could be difficult.

Waitrose started tentatively to avoid cannibalising sales through its stores. It used Ocado to deliver within the M25 from a dedicated warehouse, while Tesco took product from the shelves of local stores to fulfil its online orders. Tesco has never looked back and Ocado has grown well beyond the M25, but Ocado has yet to make any money. Convinced by its experiment, Waitrose has adopted Tesco’s strategy to choose both bricks and clicks.

Although construction as a whole has been slow to adopt online ordering, some companies (Door-Stop International, for example) have focused on clicks, while others (eg TimberWindows.com Screwfix) have a successful clicks and bricks strategy. Meanwhile companies such as Conservatory Outlet and Network VEKA members Heavers of Bridport and Westpark Windows, Doors & Conservatories may not have online ordering, but have been using the internet to generate leads – to great advantage.

Pure internet retailers like Amazon have broadened their range and made buying better and more personalised. Careful analysis of our browsing and buying habits enable it to anticipate and prompt intelligent selections we might like. Buying, now a one click experience has never been so personal, or so quick and easy.

Now Tesco has announced a multimillion pound initiative to relaunch TescoDirect early next year to personalise shoppers’ experience through behavioural targeting. This ‘major business transformational project’ will shift the website from ‘manual merchandising’ to an automatic ‘algorithmically merchandised’ offer, similar to that used by Amazon. Each customer’s content will be driven by recommendations and data feeds about topics such as sales and top-rated products. The integration of Clubcard data will mean that customers will see content reflecting their purchases. According to Tesco, it is expanding its non-food range by thousands of items every few months with major expansion planned over the next two years. Tesco’s long term ambition is to be as big in non-food as it is in food. Tesco.com has annual online sales of more than £2bn. Recently Tesco launched a major expansion into home improvements with the launch of a number of businesses including Tesco Windows.

The question is no longer clicks or bricks, the best businesses learn what works and use both. The question is how many of your customers shop at Tesco?