Top 8 website features for manufacturers and wholesalers

At first glance, you wouldn’t think the website requirements of manufacturers and wholesalers would differ terribly much from their retail partners, as covered here a few weeks back.

But in fact, unless they do decide to sell direct to public (in which case said retail story is more pertinent), the tools required to primarily deal with business customers as distinct from consumers are considerably different.

Sure some of the fundamentals like CMS, Email Marketing System and CRM remain the same but from there it branches off into markedly different requirements.

Presenting your product in the best possible light

Much of this revolves around the different roles of the website owner. Retailers set out to fill the shopping cart with as much product as possible – almost regardless of the manufacturer, whereas the website of the manufacturer and wholesaler will be about selling the benefits of the product so as to maximise sales volume of their brand of product.

Of course these sites also are important as an aid to selling to the end consumer. At the ‘candidate search’ phase of the purchase process, consumers may well visit a manufacturer / wholesale site to find out more about the product before finding a place to buy it – online or off.

These factors hint at the necessity for these websites to not only be as professional and aesthetically pleasing as possible, but also to provide as many specs, stats, images and reviews (ie. content) as possible so either the retail or consumer customer can come away informed and hopefully sold on your product.
But this blog is about functionality, so let’s look at the top eight website features for this prominent industry sector.

1. Content Management System (CMS)

No surprises here when it comes to smaller players although it may not be entirely necessary for larger players who can afford to pay professionals to constantly amend and update their websites.

For the SME manufacturer and wholesaler though, the ability to do this will be a considerable time and money saver.

2. Email Marketing System (EMS)

The ability to communicate with fans and prospective fans of your product for next to nothing is compelling to say the least. Most marketers salivate at the prospect of having direct contact with their market at a fraction of the cost in appealing to the less converted.

As with CMS, larger players are likely to outsource the email marketing effort, but for the SME, email continues to be direct marketing gold.

3. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System

At a recent web industry show, one middle sized manufacturer was demonstrating how their website and email communications were so personalised to the buying and browsing behaviour of the individual visitor that it appeared that no two visitors would receive the same mix of product content and information – helping achieve a 300% increase in site membership over three years.

While this is the cutting edge of CRM use, it provides an insight into how we will be communicating in the very near future – at a fraction of the cost of mass media communications.

4. Live Chat Service

If you can’t provide the information your visitor needs via a mix of webpages, pdfs animations and video. Live Chat is a convenient and affordable way of doing so. As we pointed out last week, this way of letting your fingers do the talking is now the communication standard for anyone under 30.

5. Extranet (password protected area)

Extranets are a brilliant way to offer special content to different stakeholders – be it your retailers who require special product information resources like spec sheets and hi-res images to consumers who are prepared to give away some personal details in return for value-added information and deals. A great example of this is food manufacturers who offer recipes, webinars and preparation tips for their consumer customers.

6. Auto-Homepage Capabilities

Like other sectors, it’s critical to keep a steady flow of new information coming to the front page of your website. Web platforms that allow you to easily add new content to the front page with a few clicks make this capability a breeze.

7. Web 2.0 Integration

As manufacturers and wholesalers realise that social networking and other web 2.0 capabilities are the languages whole generations, they are integrating their feeds into their websites. While this may keep PR departments/consultants on their toes, it also gives them untold credibility with younger markets.

8. Auto FAQ Features

What better way of keeping new content flowing to your site while gaining the productivity gains of self-service than by utilising an Auto-FAQ functionality. Such a tool will allow visitors to ask a relevant question (if it hasn’t already been answered elsewhere) and have their response added to the website with a simple tick of a box. Has new content generation ever been as customer focused or simple?

Best of all, this type of content doesn’t require high ‘production values’ – plain text is quite acceptable given the context.

Do you agree or disagree with these rankings? Either way, tell us why below. We’d especially love to hear from manufacturers or wholesalers who regularly use some or all of these features.

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Craig Reardon is a leading eBusiness educator and founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which provide the gamut of ‘pre-built’ website solutions, technologies and services to SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.