‘Bonus shop’ boosts online ordering at Heuver
Online ordering was first launched by Dutch wholesaler Heuver Tyrewholesale in 2008, and the company reports that last year it accounted for 12 per cent of total sales. This figure represents a much higher utilisation of the online facility, and Heuver says this boost occurred through the introduction of what it calls a bonus shop. The introduction of this online incentive scheme, which offers a savings system for gifts, resulted in a faster acceleration in digital traffic than anticipated – the wholesaler says it resulted in a doubling in the number of online orders it received in 2011. Heuver states that its move into digitising orders, including the introduction of a mobile website, clearly meets a need.
“Digital business has occupied an important position in our strategy in recent years,” commented Bertus Heuver, managing director of Heuver Bandengroothandel. “We are consciously in the vanguard on this because we can see a shift happening. We are now also winning customers for this form of ordering. We are constantly refining our approach. The first step was to link a bonus shop with a savings system to the web shop. We expected around ten per cent of our customers to make use of it. However, after four months we have found that at least double that number – more than 20 per cent – have started saving bonus points. As a result we have been able to deliver a lot of great gifts such as state-of-the-art TVs and cameras to customers already. We had not anticipated that development, but it clearly shows that customers in the tyre sector are also ‘digitising’ rapidly. We can see that from both the number of orders and the rise in the order value. In other words, as a supplier you have to have a powerful online presence nowadays. You can no longer do it without one.”
Mobile access
“The growth of web shop use will increase further, and partly because of that we have developed our mobile website,” Bertus Heuver continued. “That has been live for a number of weeks now, and we are gradually seeing the level of use increase. This app allows the sales rep to compare our prices and view the stock on his smartphone wherever he is. Naturally he can also order tyres from his mobile phone. On the back of these experiences it is clear to us that we have made the right choice by including our digital strategy as part of our business.”
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