Ecommerce Solution ProvidersBlueport.com

What’s the next wave of e-commerce? Here’s a hint –it represents the 45% of retail that doesn’t fit in a UPS box.  We call it “big ticket retail” and it includes large purchases that often require more consideration than traditional online purchases.

For these reasons and more, big-ticket retail is fundamentally local. Stores play a critical role. E-commerce becomes a powerful tool to help stores compete in their local markets rather than a national channel that bypasses them - essentially making it local e-commerce. Online efforts serve to drive store traffic, generate leads and consummate online transactions, cost effectively and measurably, creating a true multichannel retail supply chain.
 
Many e-commerce providers shy away from selling these types of items, as big ticket retail presents unique challenges. It involves more expensive, less well-understood products — furniture, appliances, TVs, flooring, construction materials, etc. Prices are higher and consumer confidence is lower. Inventory is bulky, expensive to move around the country and more expensive to return.

If you are a retailer who thinks your business is too complex for e-commerce transactions, there are solutions available to help you reach your big-ticket retail goals. Fundamental to these technologies and the services is the understanding that enabling big-ticket purchases online is different than traditional e-commerce, long typified by consumers purchasing inexpensive, simple products online and receiving shipment via parcel service.
 

While other e-commerce providers avoid the unique challenges of franchise retail models, Blueport Commerce embraces franchises.  We are the only e-commerce solution designed to handle the complexity of putting a distributed, localized franchise retail model online.

In this franchise retail model, the parent brand handles the "heavy lifting" of content development, catalog development and maintenance, overall marketing strategy, payment processing and technology management. Centralizing these functions guarantees a high quality e-commerce experience that is both highly valuable and affordable for their franchise's membership. Dealers then “localize” the e-commerce experience in their region, refining selection, pricing, promotions and delivery options. 

The independent franchise dealers reap the benefit of a fully functional e-commerce website they could not afford alone, but retain local control of online store content, local marketing, pricing and fulfillment of local orders. More than 900 independently owned and operated dealers use Blueport Commerce to offer their local customers a best in class franchise retail experience online.
 

Many retailers face challenges when developing or purchasing online ecommerce software solutions. Such challenges include:

• Products that are challenging to sell online because they are expensive, unbranded, not well understood or highly customizable
• Products that have complex delivery requirements that can't be met by standard parcel services
• Franchise or co-op models where brand, product offering and distribution is controlled locally by independent dealers

If you face these challenges, it’s important to look for an ecommerce solution provider that specializes in your area of business. When selecting an ecommerce software provider, ask how they can address your specific challenges.

Also, be sure that the vendor you select combines its ecommerce technology platform with relevant experience and real advice, consultation and support.  This will help you enable a seamless ecommerce business solution and a true multichannel strategy which will in turn allow you to better focus on your core business, drive results and create e-commerce growth. Contact us to see how we’ve solved your challenges for the largest of big-ticket retailers.

If you're in charge of store operations, you may not know what to think about ecommerce integration, or how to present it to your commissioned sales team.

You may ask yourself, ‘Won't my sales staff lose customers to the web?’

This is a common concern, and one that sales managers should address with their teams prior to implementing a multi channel e-commerce strategy. The reality is that for many retail categories, especially big-ticket, the greatest benefits of going online happen in stores. This may sound counterintuitive, but because big-ticket retail is fundamentally local and stores play a critical role. E-commerce stores become a powerful tool to help stores compete in their local markets rather than a national channel that bypasses them.

Online efforts serve to drive store traffic, generate leads and consummate online transactions — cost effectively and measurably. Many retailers have found that this to be true. Specifically, for every online order, 5 or 6 directly trackable orders are placed in stores by people who first registered online. And these are only the customers who provided us with their names online — the real impact in your stores will actually be an order of magnitude larger.

With a managed ecommerce solution, your stores gain customers of the best kind — educated consumers who have found exactly what they want online, and simply want to see the item in person in your stores and complete the transaction with a live person.

 

At Blueport Commerce, our ten years of experience in big-ticket, localized retail allows us to understand your business and apply technology intelligently — not just hopping on the latest technology bandwagon, but finding solutions that work for your unique managed e-commerce retailing needs.

Blueport Commerce works with you to review your site strategies and programs, as well as with other technology providers to guarantee your customers the highest quality hosted e-commerce solution available, and to guarantee you the highest e-commerce returns possible – including leads to your local stores. We keep on top of the latest technology so you don't have to. We find the best providers, test them against our unique consumer profile, and adopt or develop best in breed e-commerce technologies to meet your needs. 

Key features include:

• Website Development – Blueport Commerce works with you over the course of our agreement to add new features and functionality to your e-commerce platform.
• Partner Plug Ins – Blueport Commerce includes leading technology providers into our platform, driving down your costs through our scale and integrated platform.
• Custom Integration – Blueport Commerce integrates with your retail systems, enabling cross-channel shopping and simplifying its management.

Fulfillment and customer service should be a priority for every e-commerce transaction – however all ecommerce solutions are not created equal. Fulfillment becomes even more complicated for big ticket retail, or those retailers whose products do not easily fit into a UPS box.

E-commerce can't succeed in a category like big-ticket retail without a specialized technology provider. One with an e-commerce platform that’s able to process your product from order to delivery — and make it as easy as calling UPS. 

How is an online order fulfilled?

Ecommerce solutions should make the process a closed loop that begins and ends with your existing systems. A platform should be able to extract your SKUs from your system, and return orders to your system in a format identical to an order written in your stores. Whether you have a home grown system or a major commercial package, the end result should be that e-commerce orders that are no different to fulfill than store orders.

Additionally, it’s important to ensure that your website only features products you can fulfill, and provides accurate local delivery dates. Dropped or discontinued products should be removed from your site automatically. Customers should be shown the same delivery dates they would get in a store, based on local stock, purchase orders or inter-store transfers.

The result is e-commerce volume that, from a service and fulfillment standpoint, is the same as store orders. Your team will know how to fulfill an e-commerce order from day one — just like a store order.

Choosing whether to host and maintain your web site is a tough decision, and factors include cost, staffing, and security. While the immediate assumption is to handle it internally like your store systems, once you start researching the hardware, equipment and hosting its complexities become clear.  The security requirements, ability to keep it up 24x7, and the constant maintenance is not something your company can take on internally.

Blueport Commerce's hosted ecommerce solution can let you worry about the business side of your web site, not the uptime.

Key features of our hosted ecommerce solution:

• All hardware and hosting for your ecommerce site, driving down operating costs for the retailer.
• Benefit of our partners with leading providers like Akamai to speed delivery of your website content.
• Server hardware maintenance, expansion and upgrades as well as operating system upgrades.
• A highly secure, PCI compliant ecommerce platform.

Blueport Commerce's hosted ecommerce solution is cost-effective, and with guaranteed uptime and 24x7 support we can also give peace of mind to our retailers and their IT staff. Click here to learn more about how hosted ecommerce might be the right choice for you.