How the electrical wholesale industry can embrace sales technology to help secure its future
Posted by: electime 4th September 2024
Gregg Finlay-Martin, head of customer success at Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firm Adventoris, the creator of B2B platform SwiftCloud, explores why electrical wholesalers are yet to fully explore the untapped opportunities that new technologies can offer – and how the sector’s hesitancy may have a negative impact on the electrical industry going forward.
At a time where other industries like food and drink, textiles, industrial supplies and homecare, to name a few, are actively embracing mobile ecommerce platforms, the electrical industry seems to be slowing, with many hesitant to make the next step in mobile ecommerce.
While the pandemic saw many businesses forced to move to some form of online ordering solution, many have returned to traditional methods, limiting communications to phone or email. Although phone ordering has its benefits, namely the ease of being able to talk to another human, particularly in this sector, it has its downsides too, with misheard numbers, product names and addresses causing sometimes very costly errors for businesses not to mention the number of wasted hour inputting repetitive orders. I do appreciate that the sector can have complicated elements that others don’t, however these shouldn’t be a block to keeping up with this global move.
There is also a fast-emerging generational gap appearing within the sector with younger onsite electricians automatically looking for a quick mobile solution via an app but are hindered by a hierarchy of ordering, with managers wanting more of an oversight on what is being ordered and at what cost.
This needn’t be a concern as SwiftCloud has several solutions to these kind of sector specific challenges, ranging from project specific shopping lists to limiting the users product range. We also offer a quotation module, which enables electricians to ask for the most competitive product prices, and the PO authorisation module where an order can be placed onsite but needs a final sign off from a manager before it gets processed. These features along with many others can significantly improve business operations while saving time and money.
As well as streamlining the ordering process, the use of ecommerce platforms like SwiftCloud reduce the need to spend money on printing costly product brochures, which can quickly go out of date with offers, prices and messaging. Customers have a full catalogue in their hand and at the touch of a button can technical specifications, images and technical information, allowing them to make an informed purchase.
From my interactions with clients and prospects in this sector, I’ve found that while these benefits are welcomed by the electrical wholesalers and those who implement SwiftCloud, occasionally internal resistance, the generational gap or fear of change can often hinder the potential business impact and the all-important ROI.
Implementing new technology is never going to be easy, but a whole business approach makes a huge impact to customer confidence and uptake. At Adventoris, we’re always available to help support wholesalers through the transition into online sales, and our customer success team is always on hand to help along with our expert technical team here to create and explore solutions and developments to suit each customer’s needs. The first question your SwiftCloud customer success consultant will ask when launching this technology is always “As a business what are you trying to achieve?” We will then work with you month by month to support and devise strategies to achieve the best results we can as we collaborate.
The SwiftCloud platform has lots of other exciting features which can help any business – from push notifications prompting ‘last chance to buy’ or ‘new range’ reminders and discount announcements; to the ability to create bespoke project specific shopping lists. These features can help electrical wholesalers in both increasing basket sizes and in offering a more personalised ordering experience to their customers.
Overall ecommerce, and particularly mobile ecommerce platforms, offer key solutions that can help the electrical sector move forward. SwiftCloud is here to help businesses seamlessly integrate new technology in a way that is proven to drive positive changes and results. With boldness, collaboration and openness, the electrical sector has a bright future.
