E-Commerce Strategies for Manufacturing Companies
The development of e-commerce strategies for manufacturing companies represents a particular challenge, since it is vital that such strategies do not jeopardise the brand and that channel conflicts with stationary retail are avoided to as great an extent as possible. The e-commerce strategy model developed by FOSTEC for manufacturing companies is suitable for use across a range of industries and sectors. The multi-dimensional model consists of five “building blocks” or areas:
The most fundamental component of the model is the establishment of an online brand presence. This is a basic requirement for e-commerce, since it provides the necessary platform for interaction between manufacturers and customers and assumes the function of information provider for the digital age – a role that would once have been undertaken by the manufacturer themselves. This “open” online brand presence is known in layman’s terms as the manufacturer’s website. The development of a business model, which forms the second building block of the model, is derived primarily from the nature of the online brand presence and partly also from the strategic direction of the company’s strategy. The type of online brand presence chosen by the company also determines the characteristics of the retail operation, the third building block of the model. Due to the close dependence of the business model (Building Block 2) and type of operation (Building Block 3) on the online brand presence (Building Block 1), and because of the latter’s considerable influence on the perception of the company by customers, these three building blocks form the core of the model. Like the first three, the fourth building block – the B2B portal for commercial partners – is based on an online platform. Since this portal can only be accessed by logging in with access data, it is referred to as “closed”. The fifth building block of an e-commerce strategy pulls together all aspects of e-commerce distribution that are not directly connected with the online brand presence of a manufacturing company and which can therefore can be considered and implemented separately.