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What
is electronic commerce? |
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A system for
organizing communications with our clients, distributors,
suppliers, technicians, sales representatives and other
external entities. To keep them informed about out products,
accessories, spare parts, options and technical characteristics,
always kept up-to-date, with specific conditions and
prices, and available 24hx7d. So that they can process
our orders and keep us informed of their acceptance,
delivery dates, dispatch, repairs and other information
of interest to us. |
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Why?
Aren’t “dot com” companies in crisis? |
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Because our
company is not a “virtual” company, but a
real one. An electronic commerce system is not a new
type of company (as the “dot com” companies
claimed) but a new system for communicating with our
clients and the market, which complements personal contact,
the telephone and the fax, but does not replace them. |
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Why,
if we’ve already got a website? |
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Because electronic
commerce is a complement to our management system, and
a website, on the other hand, is a complement to our
marketing and publicity system. |
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Why
, if we’ve already got e-mail? |
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Because it
is a two-way system, where we offer and receive up-to-date
information to and from our clients in a way that is
structured, systematic and completely controlled. On
the other hand, e-mail is predominantly informal. |
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Why,
if we don’t sell to the public? |
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Because
an electronic commerce system is thought out first
and foremost for our clients, to offer them better
information, which is more accurate, more specific
and available at any time.
It also allows us to give
information about our catalogues to anonymous visitors,
making us able to boost the capture of new clients
which will later be accepted or rejected.
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Why,
if our market is a local one? |
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Because
if we don’t do it, our competitors will. Companies
located far away will be able to supply our clients
over the Internet. Their shipping costs will be compensated
by the lack of local set-up costs, which will allow
them to be competitive. Are we prepared for our future
to depend on complete loyalty from our existing clients? |
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Why,
if our clients say that they are not going to use it? |
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When fax machines
came out, clients said they weren’t going to use
them. Do you know of a company that doesn’t have
one? |
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Why
now, if we’ve already got a lot of work on? |
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If we use
one of our administrative staff for around one hour a
day, we can set the system up in a matter of a few months,
depending on the size of the catalogue. This effort,
which can now be made easily, will be a costly burden
if we find ourselves obliged to make it urgently in the
future because we are forced to do so by our competitors. |
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Why
now, if it’s not included in our investment plan? |
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At present,
thanks to official subsidies, the cost of setting up
an electronic commerce system is lower than that of an
advertisement in any magazine in the sector, and it costs
less per month than a mobile phone. |
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Why
don’t we wait a while? |
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Getting
our clients accustomed to using the new possibilities
is going to take maybe one or two years.
It is obvious
that it represents a change of habits, and although
technology is making rapid progress, people’s
habits do so more slowly. Also, when they use our electronic
commerce system, they will get used to it without even
realizing, as we have all done with Word or Excel, and
it will be more difficult for them to learn to use another
similar electronic commerce system.
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But,
how can electronic commerce be used in an environment
which involves a purchase centre and multiple associates? |
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Setting
up the system so that associates can purchase and manage
their orders to the centre. This will mean that we
gain quality in the information provided and that we “extend” the
opening hours of the centre for its associates. We
also reduce administrative and management costs, which
is for everybody’s benefit. |
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What
about relations with existing clients? |
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Each associate
can manage as many clients as they want on a completely
confidential basis. Both the client details and the
contents of their orders cannot be consulted by other
associates or by the centre. |
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What
about the market? |
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The ensemble
of the centre and its associates will share a single
public image on the Internet, which helps to strengthen
the brand image. It also reduces costs for promoting
the brand through search engines and any marketing
campaigns which may be carried out by the group. |
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What
about commitments regarding territorial exclusivity? |
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Although
entry to the Internet is joint, the system allows commercial
transactions to be managed according to where they
come from, which is why any order is sent directly
to the corresponding associate and the delivery address
stated by the client, with those corresponding to territories
without any allocation being sent to the centre. |
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What
happens if our competitors start up a similar system?
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We will
be a few years ahead of them. |
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