Sell anything too complicated for the web?

[davidd]

Just trying to asses demand.

Do you or does your company sell anything which you feel you cannot sell online because it is too complex?

For instance a bespoke house where the user can specify the a more or less infinate number of variable items some of which will impact on each other.

Or an engine where variables would include , fuel type, ignition type, carb/injection, turbo, non turbo, what sort of zorst etc, etc.

Things which are a long way from to buy one of these click this box...?

If you have then I'd be interested to understand your product and why you think it cannot be sold online..

thanks

David

[samn01]

I once had a conversation with the Internet manager of Boeing RE e-Commerce.

He said something like "As most of the things we sell cost millions, we dont think we wil sell too many online".

"Fair enough" was about all I could say to that one

[davidd]

Ah I don't mean things that are very expensive (well not 747 expensive) but I bet there are plenty of spare parts or upgrades that they could supply online..

D.

[stevieb]

Dave i think there are plenty of tuning companies selling there stuff online and being successful.

but im a little confused of what you mean?

[davidd]

stevieb said:

Dave i think there are plenty of tuning companies selling there stuff online and being successful. but im a little confused of what you mean?

It is confusing

what I mean is where the product is completely non standard, imagine a house..

You want to buy a house online (I know it is unlikely but bear with me).

You go to daviddhouses.com and pick the basic type

Country Vicarage

You then specify the number of bedrooms reception rooms

You then specify if it is in a conservation area

Which will then have a massive impact on the fixings, finishings and design.

You want a fire so you add that to your configuration, if it is a coal fire then you might need one type of liner, if it is a woodburning stove then you might need a different sort of liner.

I'm talking about a product that is infact the sum of many other products. The products that you specify on the parts list will all impact on each other, so for instance if you specify you want radiators it will ensure you have enough to heat the house and then will only allow you to select a bloier which is up to the job of servicing all those radiators.

In the end you have specified all these different parts but end up with a single unique part number.

We call it a configurator.

The reason I was asking is because we are having great success with one of our customers who makes very complicated products which are very configurable. In the past they have never been able to sell any of this stuff online because of the level of complexity, so it has always involved a design engineer and sales person. Now the customer can build the partslist themselves, the configurator ensures that they will all work together and it is viable reducing the sales cycle from weeks to an hour or less and freeing up loads of time.

We can think of a number of markets where this is applicable but wondered if anyone on PH had any thoughts.

Cheers

D.

[furby]

From my experience, it is not so much the complication of a product or products which make it hard to sell on line it is goods that need (from the buyers view point) to be felt, used or touched or whatever before buying.

PC's can be a nightmare to spec, but if you know your stuff and follow basic menus you can build on on line and buy it, same for engines, houses etc etc.

The biggest headache i had was building an online shop for a bed shop, I knew that i for one would want to try out beds by lying on them before buying.

Sorry to digress and i know this doesn't help your particular scenario but those are my thoughts on a thursday afternoon.

Good luck with your venture.

[simpo two]

Compare chess with snooker. One has fixed positions for the pieces, hence you can tick enough boxes and quantify it. Snooker, however, is infinitely variable.

I produce corporate video. I could set up a menu structure along the lines of:
How much will you pay for the script? £100/200/300 etc
How many days filming do you need? 1/2/3 days etc
How many days editing do you need? 1/2/3 days etc
How much tapestock will you use up? 1/2/3 tapes etc
How many hours will it take to record the VO? 1/2/3

But they won't have any idea, which is why I have to talk to them - ideally visit them - and find out, then use my skill and experience to agree a cost.

[davidd]

Ah Simpo I see but imagine they know what they want...

With our current customers customers (follow that) they are design engineers and so are usually specifying new parts made from many components, they know the exact specifications of what they need it is just a case of building the components up from many different parts.

I admit in your case it is worthwhile you talking to them, there are a lot of cases where this human interaction is important, however it takes time and if there was a way to do it where the customer and you would be happy then it would be worth thinking about (no I have no idea how to do that )

D.

[simpo two]

davidd said:

Ah Simpo I see but imagine they know what they want...

They often do know what they want - but exactly how to achieve it is not their skill (otherwise they'd be doing it!). Plus, I invariably have to shoot down some of their dreams on cost grounds, but can make new suggestions too.

If it could all be put on a website with a button that said 'Buy Now' of course I'd do it. But menu-priced videos are usually rather rigid and template/sausage-machine-style. I prefer to dig a bit deeper; after all if I don't take the time to understand my clients' business and/or products, how can I possible design a video for them?

One thing that could be 'webbed' are tangible objects like plasma screens - but then you stand to lose because you nail your colours to the mast too soon and if they find a cheaper one elsewhere, you'll never hear from them and never get any chance to talk them round, negotiate etc. IE, where price-hunting surfers are involved, pitch a plasma just £10 higher and you'll probably lose it.

I guess I'm just not a pile-em-high-sell-em-cheap person - because anybody can do that, and I try not to be an anybody.

[davidd]

simpo two said:

davidd said: Ah Simpo I see but imagine they know what they want... They often do know what they want - but exactly how to achieve it is not their skill (otherwise they'd be doing it!). Plus, I invariably have to shoot down some of their dreams on cost grounds, but can make new suggestions too. If it could all be put on a website with a button that said 'Buy Now' of course I'd do it. But menu-priced videos are usually rather rigid and template/sausage-machine-style. I prefer to dig a bit deeper; after all if I don't take the time to understand my clients' business and/or products, how can I possible design a video for them? One thing that could be 'webbed' are tangible objects like plasma screens - but then you stand to lose because you nail your colours to the mast too soon and if they find a cheaper one elsewhere, you'll never hear from them and never get any chance to talk them round, negotiate etc. IE, where price-hunting surfers are involved, pitch a plasma just £10 higher and you'll probably lose it. I guess I'm just not a pile-em-high-sell-em-cheap person - because anybody can do that, and I try not to be an anybody.

I agree with all that, and you are right to try to get to talk to them. Our customers product set is very specialised and the only people who buy from them are specialists from within industry so it is a different ball game. There is no price hunting because this is the only place you can get this stuff all we are doing is moving a process that was done by phone onto the internet.

Cheers

D.