SEDA Safety Scene Online
January 2003
Panda Meets the Challenge
By Todd HoffmeisterCreate a robust, affordable and easy-to-use e-commerce solution for the Safety Industry. That’s been the challenge. Many have tried, few have succeeded. Some have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and invested years in development, only to end up with an anemic, difficult-to-use and grossly overpriced program that doesn’t do much. Others have attempted over-financed and over-hyped campaigns that in the end collapsed completely, with virtually nothing to show for years of development. But now, where others have failed, Panda Communications has succeeded!
Working quietly behind the scenes for the past four years, and financed entirely by our own resources, Panda has developed an e-commerce website that does it all, and at a fraction of the cost you would incur if you attempted to do this yourself. The Panda eSafetyStore is indeed robust, easy to use, and extremely affordable.
Now your Safety business can use our eSafetyStore 1.0 Syndicated Web Catalog Server to provide your customers with a customized Internet catalog website complete with sophisticated catalog searching, comprehensive product information, and an easy way to create and submit orders. Your customers can access your new e-commerce site by clicking on a link from your current site’s home page, or all your company’s information can be incorporated into your e-commerce site itself. All hosting will be through Panda Media, a division of Panda Communications, so everything is taken care of for you. This is a complete package.
Benefits for Your Business
Your Panda eSafetyStore website will give you a commerce-enabled web catalog comparable to those of the market’s biggest players, and again, at a fraction of the cost they incurred. Once in the Internet Marketplace, you’ll be able to reach far more customers. In fact, you’ll be able to reach customers all over the world, and you’ll be able to offer many more products, without a significant increase in marketing expenditures. Your eSafetyStore is supported by a comprehensive database of safety product information, created and maintained exclusively by Panda, that is constantly being improved and expanded. The depth and breadth of your site’s catalog content, combined with its powerful search features, greatly increases the speed and quality of your customers’ buying decisions, and provides you with a critical competitive edge. And here’s another benefit. Many of the calls your customer service reps receive concern pricing and availability. Since your eSafetyStore’s catalog pages already include this information, your customer service reps will be free to focus on higher-value activities.
Customized to Look Like Your Site and Yours Alone
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Panda’s eSafetyStore Solution is an online syndicated catalog program, which means that a number of independent safety distributors will be sharing the same catalog server. This is how you will be able to have all the sophisticated searching and catalog navigation features for such a low cost: because you’ll be sharing the cost of development and operation with other distributors. BUT, and this is the key, Panda dynamically configures your eSafetyStore interface and contents so that your site appears to be yours and yours alone. Your customers will never know that you share the same catalog server with other distributors around the country. Every catalog page will display your company’s name, your logo, your slogan or catch phrase, and your customer service number. Your eSafetyStore site will show only the items that you want to offer (drawn from our huge database). You can set your own prices for each item, and you can discount items based on your own criteria (special sales, special pricing for certain customers, etc.). Again, it will appear to the world as your custom e-commerce site.
The Nuts and Bolts
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The product information used in your eSafetyStore is maintained automatically by Panda’s Catalog Content Manager, a database containing thousands of safety products and images. Your eSafetyStore home page provides access to powerful catalog searching and browsing features, your product line card, and comprehensive customer account functions. Let’s talk about the search function for a moment. Your customers can search for the products they want in six different ways. Product Line Drill-Down allows your customer to choose from a list of categories and subcategories. Each choice activates a hyperlink that retrieves a more defined list of subcategories, until the customer arrives at a list of products that satisfies his search. The Catalog Number Search allows your customer to enter
a full or partial catalog number, either yours or the manufacturer’s. He is taken immediately to the product he is looking for. Your customer can
enter one or more
Keywords and retrieve a list of products that match the search keyword. Incidentally, after the desired product is found and displayed, the customer can click on it to retrieve more detailed product information, including descriptive copy and ordering information.
Manufacturer: the customer can limit, or “filter” his search to show only those products from a certain manufacturer. The Line Card Search is a view of the catalog showing all the manufacturers. Because there will be a large number of manufacturers included on the site, the search can be filtered by product category. And finally, Category. All the products on the site are tagged with a Category and Subsection (i.e. Personal Protection, Earmuffs). The customer can use this category/subsection
designation to filter search results.
The Product Page
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Once your customer has found the product he is looking for, he will see it displayed on its own Product Page. This page will include the product name, the manufacturer’s name and logo, one or more images of the product, a written description of the product, and a SKU table including catalog number, item attributes and list price. Perhaps you have regular customers with whom you have special pricing arrangements. After registering, that customer can log in to your eSafetyStore. Then when he reaches a product page, his special price is displayed in place of the list price.
Product Ordering
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Your eSafetyStore includes a Shopping Cart. Each customer browses your catalog, finding what he wants. Each catalog number in your eSafetyStore has an Add To Shopping Cart icon next to it. Your customer clicks on the icon, and the product is added to his shopping cart. He can choose whether he wants to purchase that item or receive a quote on the item. When he has completed his shopping, he takes his shopping cart to the “Check Out” to finalize his purchase. To make his final purchase, obviously he must first have registered and logged in, so you know who he is. Before he logs in, the shopping cart shows list prices only. After he logs in, his cart is updated with his own contract pricing. The checkout process asks the customer for essential ordering information, including billing, shipping and payment information. When orders and requests for quotes are submitted, they are forwarded as encrypted e-mails to your customer service department for fulfillment. An order receipt is also sent to the customer. Each order will include a subtotal and a note saying that shipping and tax (if applicable) will be confirmed by e-mail. It will then be your responsibility to confirm the final order total.
Conclusion
As long as this article is, it just begins to scratch the surface on all the features included in this incredible package. You can see this package in action by visiting one that is already up and running. Take a look at http://www.reliablesafety.com/ or http://www.harpsafety.com/ and have a look around. You’ll see just how powerful your eSafetyStore will be. To have all your questions answered, and to discuss the cost of Panda’s eSafetyStore e-commerce solution, contact us at Panda Communications, 1-888-TO-PANDA and ask for Kellie (ext. 101) or Naomi (ext. 111). We think you will be amazed when you find out just how affordable this package is!
More News From Panda
One more thing. We are going back to press with our most popular syndicated Safety Catalog, Version E4. It’s a beautiful 224-page, four-color book featuring over 8000 safety products from more than 80 of the nation’s top safety suppliers. Each item is competitively list-priced. Here are some of the great features and benefits you’ll get with your Panda Catalog:
- A choice of 10 covers, each imprinted with your company’s name, logo, ordering information and other personalized information.
- Panda will request Co-op from participating manufacturers on your behalf.
- You’ll get access to PANDANET, a preferred distributor site listing over 80 programswith Panda Preferred Vendors, including special co-op, pricing, shipping and rebates for current Panda customers.
- You’ll be enrolled in the new Panda Distributor Advertising Program, allowing you to benefit from an exclusive arrangement between Panda and Compliance Magazine.
- You’ll receive a PDF document showing all the items in your catalog, ready to post on your website.
- You’ll receive a PDF price list of all items in your catalog.
- You’ll be included in the Distributor Listing on the Compliance Magazine website.
Order by January 15th and receive all the features and benefits listed above, PLUS an additional 5% off regular or association prices. For complete information, go to http://www.pandacommunications.com/. Look under Catalog Programs to view a complete list of participating vendors and ordering information. Or call us at 1-888-TO-PANDA. We’d love to hear from you!