For 40-year-old family business Swift Electrical, a combination of economic recession and ever increasing competition has prompted a strategic change to multi-channel retail
By Suzie Larcombe
Wholesale Challenge
Founded in 1978, with a distribution centre in Stoke on Trent, Swift Electrical is one of the UKs largest distributors of domestic appliances. The family run company provides white goods, kitchen appliances and sinks and taps to smaller electrical wholesalers and retailers as well as independent kitchen retailers.
The company’s strong relationship with many of the biggest names in the industry, like Bosch, Indesit, Smeg and Franke, is critical today’s highly competitive and price sensitive marketplace.
As Adrian Eyres, Technical Director at Swift Electrical, explains: “It is hard to differentiate on price, so Swift’s success is based on quality of service and interaction with the consumer. Retailers want to know that products are in stock and that Swift can deliver at the right time to the right place.”
Realising in today’s market, that customer interaction must include an online channel, Swift initially explored the development of an e-commerce platform, using a local developer over three years ago. However, they soon realised that the solutions on the market couldn’t meet the specific, complex requirements of their B2B distribution business.
End-to-End Solution
Swift needed to implement a web front-end system that would connect directly with its back-office financials. The integrated warehouse, sales, finance and stock management system they have provides complete visibility of stock at any time, as well as real-time reporting on sales, making it fundamental to the operation of the business.
“Most competitors run web systems that produce a sales order that is manually uploaded into the back office system. Swift wanted a fully automated solution to run from customer to back office, enabling the web to become just one more sales channel.”
What’s more, most third party solutions were retail style e-commerce sites, offering one price for each product. Swift’s wholesale market requires multiple manufacturer-led promotions as well as different prices to reflect discounts negotiated by each retailer and they needed to be able support this complex pricing matrix.
The company was also keen to exploit the scalability and affordability of the On Demand Solutions model. In addition to being one of the few completely integrated solutions that could meet all Swift’s needs in a single package, On Demand Solutions offer a cloud-based option with a flexible licensing model which is incredibly cost effective for organisations that require the flexibility of a SaaS approach.
Following a consultation with On Demand Solutions, Swift now has a totally integrated web e-commerce platform. Running ODSNET E-commerce with ODSNET Financials ensures online customers have access to up-to-date stock information and are able to create the complex pricing/discounting structures necessary.
Orders placed online are automatically updated in the sales system, creating a work order in warehousing and recalculating the stock figures.
Customer Experience
To ensure each customer automatically sees the correct price for each product, pricing is linked to the customer account, including contract terms and promotional discounts. Customers can pay online, or if they are credit customers, the sale will generate an invoice.
If an order tips the customer over their credit limit this is flagged in credit control and this is the only time that human interaction is required.
Swift operates Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm and growing numbers of retailers are open six or seven days a week; so it is important to offer the ability to research products, check product availability and place orders, as well as undertaking other administrative tasks, such as tracking order history, out of standard business hours.
Customers are provided with a complete order history, including invoices and dispatch notes; and the company is considering a link to the up-to-date credit account, to allow customers to view their outstanding credit position and check that payments and credits match up.
Expanding Business
In the first three months of operation, Swift has seen evening and weekend sales grow steadily. In addition to a steady migration of existing customers from telephone to online order placement, Swift has also signed up 15 new customers via the website.
That said, “Swift will continue to provide telephone-based ordering because many customers like to work that way. The whole aim is to offer customers with a choice of interaction and a service that is available 24/7,” Eyres confirms.
While online sales are a small but growing component of Swift’s overall revenue, the company is also looking to expand this platform into retail sales. “Swift will start to deal directly with the consumer,” Eyres says.
“This development with On Demand Solutions is creating a foundation for a strategy that will evolve over the next five to ten years. Swift has been in business for 40 years but realizes the importance of continuing to evolve. The expansion into online sales for our B2B retailers and direct to end consumers is exciting and will drive new revenue streams for our business.”
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