The New York Times ran an article today titled “E-Commerce 101 for Manufacturers” today which dramatically over-simplifies what it takes to create and drive an eCommerce business.

While I greatly appreciate the basic tenor of the article, encouraging manufacturers to get online and go direct in order to take advantage of a wider market and reap higher margins as a result, the over simplification of what it takes to be successful is symptomatic of why there are so many very disappointing manufacturers sites out there.

The article states, “Instead of spending time and money setting up bricks-and-mortar stores and training salespeople, you can get started with nothing more than an e-commerce Web site and some inventory to sell. Since much of your e-commerce site will be handling standard online shopping transactions, you'll find e-commerce templates are readily available. Or you can use a complete solution like eBay, which requires no online expertise at all.”

Basically, yes, it is true that a manufacturer can prop up a site quickly using a hosted SaaS commerce solution or find a junior developer to hack at OS Commerce to get a store up and running with nothing more than some “inventory to sell”, but honestly it will require much more than that if your goals are broader than just selling some stuff.

Goals a manufacturer should target when beginning online include:

• Articulating the brand and delivering an experience consistent with its promise to consumers
• Being the principal source online for information about the manufacturer’s products
• Acquiring new customers to the brand, and becoming a direct communication tool
• Driving new direct sales, at high margin (compared with wholesale)
  
• Driving traffic to online retailers selling the manufacturer’s products online
• Being a source for important product content to retail customers - you want your products to be well represented wherever they are sold
  

In order to accomplish these goals the manufacturer needs to commit to the site’s success. Putting up a basic site with little or no motivation to nurture and invest in the content, merchandising, and marketing is going to lead to disappointing results and to the wrong conclusions - “we tried that eCommerce thing, it didn’t work for us”, while competitors who do commit and invest will take advantage of all the web has to offer.

Here is a quick list of things to consider when making this commitment to this new channel:

• Commit to deep and rich product content, with freelance or staff copywriters, photographers, and graphic designers focused on product content for the web. Leveraging advertising or wholesale marketing assets makes sense, but these often will not suffice when trying to sell a product online
• Commit to driving the online experience and designing a well architected and on-brand site. Hire a great design team with experience in online retail, information architecture, usability, and great design aesthetics proven online.. A team that has done a bunch of flashy marketing sites may claim that eCommerce is no big deal for them, but they may be unprepared to understand the needs and best-practices of an eCommerce site. If you need help with your branding, now is the time to invest as you build your site experience, but that may or may not be the same design team.
• Commit to investing in a well developed site. Make sure your development team has to prove itself with other sites they have worked on. Check them out, use the sites, and see the tools you will be using - content management, analytics, CRM, order management - and make sure they meet your needs. If you plan to give the design work to one team, and the development to another, insist they work very, very closely together. Best case, find a shop that is great at both design and development. [Yes, we think Swallowtail fills that bill - with proven online design and development core-competencies.]
• Commit to online marketing - driving email campaigns, SEM, SEO, viral - by allocating budget and resources. Hire a small agency or freelancers to support this if you can’t bring on experienced online marketing staff. Include your brand marketers in this effort, but they will have a lot to learn to drive marketing online
• Commit to a great fulfillment experience - make sure your warehouse can really handle direct-to-consumer fulfillment and can deliver quick error free fulfillment consistently. Nothing sours am online customer more than a horrible fulfillment process. And don’t forget about returns, no matter your category you will get them, though the degree will vary. Being able to process returns and restock efficiently can be a huge cost savings.
• Commit to excellent customer service - even a problem can win a customer’s loyalty if you handle it right. Prompt and effective customer service is critical to building your brand and winning customers for the long haul.

Done well, and with commitment, an online channel can be a huge win and a great asset for the manufacturer and their customers. The benefits to your brand, business, and customer engagement and loyalty can be very, very beneficial.

Just don’t make the mistake of oversimplifying and under committing. No one wins and if anything more harm may come of it than good in wasted money, customer equity, damage to your brand, and resources.

Need help with your site or thinking through your online merchandising, content strategy or marketing? Contact us today to discuss.