Don't just stand by and watch the advent of Web-to-Pack: our 10 tips to better defend yourself and create a real Web-to-Pack strategy!
The continuation and conclusion of this series of articles on Web-to-Pack where, after announcing the advent of Web-to-Pack and analyzing its economic model, we give you our best advice to provide YOUR response to this new way of selling packaging.
1 - Take example from the best
It is clear that if Packhelp is achieving record fundraising, it is because, beyond being one of the pioneers of Web-to-Pack, its execution is very good. Their offer is clear, the catalog is well-designed in what it shows (the visuals are impeccable), in what it offers (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 Web-to-Print leaders (or more generally, E-Commerce). The challenge for you is to make your profession – which is so technical – as simple and adapted to E-Commerce as possible. Take inspiration from the major generalist e-commerce sites, Web-to-Print specialists, and the few Web-to-Pack pioneers, because this is where the standards you should be aiming for tomorrow are, not with your current competitors, who are often as underdeveloped as you are on the subject.
On the Internet, it is not enough to be the first (Copains d'avant existed before Facebook!), you have to be the best. Our following 9 tips are all indicators that will allow you to position yourself in relation to the players already in place: respecting them well should ensure that you surpass the current leaders on the fundamentals.
2 - Be reassuring
In our article "The price of Web-to-Pack: our analysis and our initial advice", we discussed the fact that some product descriptions lacked transparency. It mentioned a flute ranging from "E to EB" without really knowing what you would get in the end for the advertised price.
The good news is that transparency will be one of your greatest assets in your case.
Why?
Because – if you are reading us – there is a good chance that you are a packaging manufacturer and therefore that you can work in « direct supplier ».
Therefore, be transparent about as many elements as possible, for example:
• Put a banner on your site with 4-5 customer references that you are proud of.
And no, no one will « steal » these customers by knowing that they work with you. The gain you will get by reassuring your visitors by citing these references will in any case be greater than the inconveniences you may suffer by listing 4 or 5 of your best customers.
• Give as much information as possible about your standard products: place of production, material supplier, flute, internal and external dimensions.
You know your products by heart, don't hesitate to describe them as much as possible.
Your customers have more and more demands, and transparency is one of them. You have the opportunity to stand out from the classic model and the competition that subcontracts a large part (or even all) of its production: take advantage of it!
3 - Embrace your status
Embrace your position as a packaging manufacturer/converter. This position is comfortable for you:
- It is a position of proximity with the customer.
- You must make extensive use of the « Made in France » (or « Spain », « UK », … on your site depending on where you are from).
- Manufacturing and selling in your country allows you to promote a significantly reduced carbon impact compared to a foreign competitor.
- Leverage your history, often family-based, and your passion for your profession.
- Promote your labels, awards, innovations, your CSR approach, your know-how, the talent of your teams, …
Again, direct supplier is probably the best guarantee for your future customers that they are making the right choice by buying from you. Your site should become the showroom of your factory; everything about you should inspire confidence and quality of service.
4 - Maintain your "offline" quality level
We are unable to tell you what the churn rate (attrition rate, which measures the percentage of customer loss over a given period) of a Web-to-Pack or even Web-to-Print site is today.
However, it is evident that this rate is much higher than what you experience in your company.
The reason for this attrition is quite simple: the customer buys their packaging alone and with little assistance, on a leading European market site that generates millions of visits per year, which subcontracts packaging all over Europe, the design of which is done directly online by the customer! Without blaming the intrinsic quality of the products, it is difficult to maintain a level of quality similar to yours under these conditions.
For your part, you now have a well-established and optimized production and quality process. Selling online should evoke for you the increase of your catchment area, the conquest of new customers, diversification and defense against an imminent threat. On the other hand, selling online should never mean lowering your quality standards.
The best advice we could give you? In the first few years, take the order online and 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 good: if you want to automate everything from tomorrow, you may never get started because the project will always seem too complicated. Finally, see your Web-to-Pack site as a super salesperson, working 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and taking orders and payments all by themselves. Your real salesperson can then call the Web customer to offer service, make additional sales, …
5 - Provide service
As with the subject of quality, E-Commerce has long been associated with discount prices. Well, for online packaging, it's quite the opposite!
Offering services such as fast delivery, the possibility of storage for the customer, … may allow you to increase your prices, sometimes drastically (in addition to distinguishing you from the competition that does not offer this today, or at prohibitive prices).
In any case, you will always be faster than an E-merchant who subcontracts their production, especially abroad, so promote it.
Also, keep all the services that you currently offer to your current customers: human contacts, dedicated salesperson, DTP service, …
As for your current clientele, the website itself is already a service that you will provide to them by allowing them to order whenever they want from an interactive and visual catalog.
6 - Build a thoughtful catalog
Your catalog should reflect your market positioning, but also offer standard products requested by customers that may be very different from yours today (E-Commerce box, American box, etc.).
Build it with discernment: don't offer things that you won't be able to do with the same standards as your other products, but don't miss out on highly demanded products that you could easily offer.
Don't forget that your catalog must be adapted to the web, and the Internet is all about visuals. Break down your catalog – artificially sometimes – to make the choice simpler and more visual for your visitors.
An example: the same shape – let's take a FEFCO 427 or hinged lid box – can be broken down into 3 distinct products on the web:
• Black 1-color printed ear box
• White 1-color printed ear box
• Color printed ear box
By functioning in this way, you will give depth to your catalog and an impression of extensive choice to your clientele. It is even possible that you will upsell (move upmarket) by selling finishes that your customers did not know about or did not know you offered.
7 - Ship quickly (and for free?)
We come back and insist on shipping because this is really what will immediately differentiate you from foreign competition and/or those working exclusively in subcontracting. We all know that our industry is going through complicated times and that never have supply difficulties, price volatility, etc., been so prevalent in your business. However, we know 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 to its customers faster than the competition.
Take your precautions and be conservative about your shipping and delivery times because this is often the first cause of dissatisfaction after an online purchase: you will in any case be much faster than the competition again (even at D+10-15 on certain custom fabrications)!
And for your best customers, your regulars, your customers in the surrounding departments, etc., why not offer free delivery?
8 - Offer custom-made products
As a cardboard converter, custom-made is your great added value. This is the product range that differentiates you from the rest of the market on the Internet and certainly where you will get the best ratio between margin and price competitiveness. But today – even via your sales representatives and your traditional distribution channel – up to 90% of your quotes do not convert into orders and price requests are constantly increasing. This increase is sometimes difficult for your estimators and sales teams to keep up with, particularly at the moment with the raw materials crisis.
So you probably think that your custom-made offer is too complex to be sold online?
This is no longer true thanks to HIPE software, which calculates your custom-made prices with the best standards and practices in the packaging industry. The prices delivered by HIPE are predicted thanks to powerful algorithms that support more than 1000 parameters (financial, purchasing, machines, logistics, etc.) that you control.
Compatible with the main E-Commerce solutions on the market, HIPE opens the doors of Web-to-Pack to your custom-made range.
9 - Announce your prices
Nearly 50% of B2B orders are won by the supplier who responds first to the customer's request. Whether with a catalog of standards with prices entered in your E-Commerce solution or with the instant pricing of HIPE for your standard and custom-made products, you will in fact always be the first to give your prices to the customer.
Your E-Commerce site is not just an online sales site, it is also a sales representative and an enriched catalog of your know-how. You will see that beyond your sales on the site, you will be surprised by the number of qualified requests you will 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 probably think it's worth it. Why not try launching your own site too? As we saw in the article “Packhelp's record fundraising, or why should you learn from printers?”, the advent of Web-to-Pack is in any case inexorable, so why voluntarily miss the right train?
In the article “4 (false) obstacles to digitization 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 (for example, your machines). But what's the point of investing millions in machines that save you considerable production time if your processes, your customer relations and your commercial responsiveness don't evolve in concert?
It's not too late and if you want to talk about CMS, PSP, CDN and other acronyms and neologisms, we are here to give you the right advice. Also, if you want to understand how HIPE can be the ideal tool for your future site, whether it's to sell standard or custom-made packaging, or simply collect qualified and standardized leads (customer contacts), don't hesitate to contact us.