We need some advice on taking our store from a local/regional bricks and mortar sales firm to an online business.
What we do currently: We are a professional, B2B firm selling high-end, non-commodity, industrial equipment. We are NOT a manufacturer; we are a sales firm that sells a few brands. For an example, let's say we sell CNC and tooling/cutting machines. Some smaller accessories and units might cost a few thousand dollars, but some of our larger equipment can run several hundred thousand dollars.
Our target audience is: company owners, facilities/production managers and engineers (who design the buildings and processes our type of equipment goes into).
We are a well-established firm, have been in business for almost 20 years and serve a three-state area.
Here are our thoughts thus far. Please give advice and don't be shy, if something is a bad idea, let us know:
- Create a website for e-commerce
- Expand sales from the few brands we have now to all/many brands
- Website will be under a different name to protect our existing business/vendor contracts (conflict of interest)
- Website content will focus on
- expert-written articles about
- Product/Equipment
- Machining/Tooling process
- How to design a production line
- How to implement the products/equipment
- specific product information (size, capacity, intended use, photos, reviews) -BUT-
- We will not display prices on website
- Main point is to get phone calls and emails requesting more information, pricing, design/configuration help...leading to equipment sales.
Currently there is only one other website geared to this industry/this type of equipment, so we feel there is room to enter the e-commerce market in this industry.
Our biggest concern is that we do not want to display prices. With this equipment, there is no "MSRP", as there are too many options and factors that go into each variation. However, e-commerce seems to be all about having a large product offering and having the lowest price, since people search with ebay, amazon, google to find the lowest price.
Please evaluate this plan and give some pointers. Thanks! |
