Don't be a spectator to the advent of Web-to-Pack: our 10 tips to help you to do more than just defend yourself a real Web-to-Pack strategy!
Continuation and conclusion of this sequence of articles on Web-to-Pack, where, after announcing the advent of Web-to-Pack and dissecting its business model, we give you our top tips for finding YOUR answer to this new way of selling packaging.
1 -Take inspiration from the best
It's clear that Packhelp's record-breaking fundraising is due not only to the fact that it's one of the forerunners of Web-to-Pack, but also to its excellent execution. Their offer is clear, the catalog is well thought-out in terms of what it shows (the visuals are impeccable) and what it proposes (a complete catalog that addresses highly-demanded standards), the site is reliable and functional, and the information is always simplified without being simplistic.
Here, nothing has been invented, and the codes adopted are those of the leaders in Web-to-Print (and, more generally, E-Commerce). The challenge for you is to make your business - however technical - as simple and adapted to E-Commerce as possible. Take your inspiration from the major generalist e-commerce sites, Web-to-Print specialists and the few Web-to-Pack pioneers, because these are the standards you'll have to aim for tomorrow, not your current competitors, who are often as little advanced in this field as you are.
On the Internet, it's not enough to be the first (Copains d'avant existed before Facebook!), you have to be the best. Our 9 tips below are indicators that will enable you to situate yourself in relation to the players already in place: respecting them well should ensure that you overtake the current leaders on the fundamentals.
2 - Be reassuring
In our article " Web-to-Pack pricing: our analysis and first tips ", we discussed the fact that some product descriptions lacked transparency. They spoke of "E to EB" without really knowing what you'd get at the end for the advertised price.
The good news is that transparency will be one of your greatest assets.
Why?
Because - if you're reading this - there's a good chance that you're a packaging manufacturer, and therefore able to work as a "direct supplier".
So be transparent about as many things as possible, for example:
- Put a banner on your site with 4-5 customer references you're proud of.
And no, nobody will "steal" these customers from you, knowing that they work with you. In any case, the gain you'll make by reassuring your visitors with these references will outweigh any inconvenience you might suffer by listing 4 or 5 of your finest customers.
- Give as much information as possible about your standard products: place of production, material supplier, fluting, inside and outside dimensions.
You know your products by heart, so don't hesitate to describe them as fully as possible.
Your customers have more and more demands, and transparency is one of them. You have the chance to stand out from the classic model and from competitors who outsource a large part (or even all) of their production: take advantage of it!
3 - Assume your status
Assume your position as packaging manufacturer/processor. This position is comfortable for you:
- It's a position of proximity to the customer.
- You have to use and abuse "Made in France" (or "Spain", "UK", ... on your site depending on where you're from).
- By manufacturing and selling in your own country, you can leverage a much lower carbon footprint than a foreign competitor.
- Play on your history, often family history, and your passion for your profession.
- Promote your labels, awards, innovations, CSR approach, know-how, team talent, etc.
Once again, the direct supplier is probably the best guarantee for your future customers that they are making the right choice by buying from you. Your website should become your factory's showroom, and everything about you should inspire confidence and quality of service.
4 - Maintain your offline quality level
Today, we can't tell you what the churn rate is for a Web-to-Pack or even Web-to-Print site.
It's obvious, however, that this rate is much higher than the one you experience in your company.
The reason for this attrition is quite simple: the customer buys his packaging on his own, with little assistance, from a market-leading European site that generates millions of visits a year, and which subcontracts packaging design all over Europe directly to the customer! Without blaming the intrinsic quality of the products, it's hard to maintain a level of quality similar to yours under these conditions.
For your part, you now have a well-honed and optimized production and quality process. For you, selling online should mean increasing your catchment area, winning new customers, diversifying and defending against an imminent threat. On the other hand, selling online should never never mean lowering your quality standards.
The best advice we could give you? For the first few years, take the order online, then continue with the same process as today, as if the order had been taken by a salesperson. Because the best is the enemy of the good: if you want to automate everything tomorrow, you risk never getting started, because the project will always seem too complicated. In the end, think of your Web-to-Pack site as a super salesman, working 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, taking orders and payments all by himself. Your real salesperson will then be able to call the web customer back to offer service, make additional sales, etc.
5 - Bring service
As with the subject of quality, e-commerce has long been associated with low prices. But when it comes to online packaging, the opposite is true!
Offering services such as fast delivery, customer storage, etc. can help you increase your prices, sometimes drastically (in addition to setting you apart from the competition, who don't offer these services today, or at prohibitive prices).
In any case, you'll always be faster than an e-tailer who outsources his production, especially abroad.
Keep all the services you offer today to your existing customers: human contact, dedicated sales force, DTP service, etc.
As for your existing clientele, the website itself is already a service you can offer them, allowing them to order whenever they like from an interactive, visual catalog.
6 - Build a thoughtful catalog
Your catalog must reflect your market positioning, but also offer standard products requested by customers who may be very different from your own today (E-Commerce boxes, American cases, etc.).
Build it with discernment: don't offer things you won't be able to do with the same standards as your other products, but don't miss out on high-demand products you could easily offer either.
Don't forget that your catalog must be adapted to the Web, and the Internet is all about images. Cut up your catalog - sometimes artificially - to make it easier for your visitors to choose what they want.
An example: the same shape - let's take a FEFCO 427 or ear box - can be divided on the Web into 3 distinct products:
- Ear box print 1 black color
- Ear box print 1 white color
- Ear box print color
By doing so, you'll add depth to your catalog and give your customers the impression of a wider choice. It's even possible to upsell by selling finishes that your customers may not be familiar with.
7 - Ship fast (and free?)
We'd like to come back to the subject of shipping, because it's the very thing that will immediately set you apart from your foreign and/or exclusively subcontracted competitors. We all know that our industry is going through complicated times, and that supply difficulties, price volatility, etc. have never had such an impact on your business. We know, however, that these problems affect everyone, and that a French manufacturer, producing in France, delivering to a French customer on a sale for which payment has already been received before production starts (thanks to online payment), will always deliver faster than the competition.
Take precautions and be conservative about your shipping and delivery times, as this is often the first cause of dissatisfaction after an online purchase: once again, you'll be much quicker than the competition (even D+10-15 on certain custom-made products)!
And for your best customers, your long-standing customers, your customers in the surrounding departments... why not offer delivery?
8 - Offer customized solutions
As a cardboard converter, custom-made products are your greatest added value. It's the product range that sets you apart from the rest of the market on the Internet, and surely the one where you'll get the best ratio between margin and price competitiveness. But today - even via your sales force and your traditional distribution channel - up to 90% of your quotations don't convert into orders, and price requests are constantly on the rise. An increase that is sometimes difficult for your currency traders and sales teams to keep up with, particularly at the moment with the raw materials crisis.
So you're probably thinking that your made-to-measure offer is too complex to be sold online?
This is no longer true, thanks to HIPE software, which calculates your made-to-measure prices using the packaging industry's best standards and practices. The prices delivered by HIPE are predicted using powerful algorithms that support over 1,000 parameters (financial, purchasing, machinery, logistics...) under your control.
Compatible with the main E-Commerce solutions on the market, HIPE opens the doors of Web-to-Pack to your made-to-measure range.
9 - Advertise your prices
Almost 50% of B2B orders are won by the supplier who responds first to the customer's request. Whether it's with a catalog of standard products at the prices entered in your E-Commerce solution, or with HIPE's instant price discount for your standard and made-to-measure products standard and made-to-measureyou'll always be the first to give your price to the customer.
Your E-Commerce site isn't just an online sales site, it's also a sales representative and a catalog enriched with your know-how. You'll see that, in addition to your sales on the site, you'll be surprised at the number of qualified inquiries you'll receive via your contact form or via HIPE after the launch of your site.
10 - Get started
If you've made it this far, you're probably thinking that it's worth the effort. Why not try launching your own site? As we saw in the article " Packhelp's record fund-raising, or why you should learn from printers ", the advent of Web-to-Pack is inexorable anyway, so why deliberately miss out?
In the article " 4 (false) obstacles to digitalization in the packaging industry ", we explained how the reluctance of manufacturers often prevents you from investing in your digital tool to the benefit of your industrial tool (e.g. your machines). But what's the point of investing millions in machines that will save you considerable production time if your processes, customer relations and commercial responsiveness don't evolve in tandem?
It's not too late, and if you want to talk CMS, PSP, CDN and other acronyms and neologisms, we're here to give you the right right advice. So, if you'd like to understand how HIPE can be the ideal tool for your future site, whether it's for selling standard or custom packaging, or simply for collecting qualified, standardized leads (customer contacts), don't hesitate to contact us.