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Distribution
Strategies: Lighting Industry
Lighting Gateway Inc.
Your
Challenge
As a vendor supplier to the Decorative Lighting Industry, your retailers
are vital to the success of your business. However, end users such as
homeowners, interior designers, custom builders, residential architects,
purchasing firms, hotels, and other consumers ultimately purchase your
products. In the era of “one-to-one relationship marketing”,
the Internet presents an unparalleled opportunity for brands and/or manufacturers
to economically and effectively nurture a direct relationship with end
users.
In today’s electronic
information age, web-surfing customers look for and expect a direct relationship
with manufacturers. They want selection, availability, information, pricing
and the ability to buy! With thousands of SKU’s, specialty retailers
can only represent a small fraction of your available products on their
showroom floors. The challenge for vendor suppliers is to have more of
your product offerings visible for sale to end users in a way which enhances
the relationship with retail channel partners while delivering the selection,
information, and immediate access which end users/consumers demand.
The
Solution
Lighting Gateway Inc., provides lighting vendor suppliers with online
business strategies, services, and eCommerce solutions coupled with channel
management software, all of which empowers vendor suppliers to develop
a one-to-one relationship with end users, leading to enhanced sales and
profits.
We are the exclusive
worldwide licensee of Reshare’s Distribution Relationship Management®
software, (“DRM”) in the Lighting Industry. DRM is the only
patented channel management solution that enables vendor suppliers to
sell directly to end users online, while preserving and rewarding their
valued distribution channel relationships, with a “share”
of the revenue generated from those sales, in a similar manner, as if
the purchase was made offline. Everybody wins…Consumer, Retailer
& Supplier!
Our internet strategy
services enable vendor suppliers to harness the many benefits of launching
and/or managing online sales & marketing initiatives, in support of:
driving increased sales, accessing strategic product development insights,
enhancing brand management & positioning, driving sales and clients
to authorized distributors and reducing costs for retailer order placement,
processing and fulfillment.
By utilizing DRM,
vendor suppliers can operate their own branded website where prospective
customers can view, access and purchase from a complete product catalog.
DRM assures that channel partners that would have been involved in a sale
through their retail location, receive profits for the online sale, in
a manner similar to those that would have occurred in an in-store, offline
transaction. All relationships between the end user, retailer, vendor/supplier
and other intermediaries remain intact.
All parties to the
transactions now gain significant visibility into buying habits, design
trends, preferences, geo-demographic profiles and other behavioral and
statistical intelligence of end users, in support of improved business
planning, practices and performance. Vendor suppliers are also able to
utilize DRM software to facilitate online purchasing from their authorized
dealer network at wholesale, in support of reducing the transactional
costs associated with conventional order input and processing.
Reducing
Non-Performing Inventory
The reduction of non-performing inventory (NPI), including overstocked
merchandise, is one of the most significant challenges the Lighting Industry
faces today. This challenge continues to grow as product lines and inventories
continue to expand. We provide vendor suppliers with a vehicle to market
and sell their NPI to the entire marketplace, at both wholesale and retail
levels, in a manner that does not harm their brand or diminish the perceived
values of the rest of their products, while increasing sales of such undesirable
inventory and thus improving financial health and stability.
Synchronizing
Product Development with Customer Wants
The direct connection with end users through use of DRM, and the visibility
this provides into purchasing patterns, style preferences, trend analysis,
geo-demographic and psychological information, provides vendor suppliers
with strategic intelligence for valuable improvements in product development
plans and design direction. With this information, in advance of investments
in design, tooling, inventory, marketing and sales, vendor suppliers can
achieve significant measurable results. There are numerous opportunities
for improvements in product development processes and enhancing retail
sell thrus and inventory performance within the lighting industry. The
days of “guessing” what end users want, need not continue
to be a failed component of vendor suppliers’ product development
activities.
Increases
Efficiency Across Distribution Channel
The ability for channel partners and end users to automate all of their
purchasing activities substantially reduces order-processing costs across
the entire channel. Industries have seen cost reductions of as much as
72% as a result. Moreover, the use of online ordering greatly reduces
order-taking time for buyers and salespeople. This frees up those in sales
roles to focus more on value-added customer service and prospecting, while
it frees up retailer buyers to focus more on customer service, merchandising,
sales and marketing.
Complete
Catalog Availability
Retailers cannot and do not actively stock or display more than 10% of
the entire product line of most vendor suppliers. This reality means that
90% of a vendor suppliers’ sales potential is at rest! Through implementing
DRM, the vendor supplier’s entire product catalog becomes available
to all retailers and end users, all of the time. This delivers significant
enhancements and results for vendor suppliers, retailers and end users.
Today’s end users demand and deserve broad product selection access,
providing them with design options and/or personalization for their particular
design needs and tastes.
Patented
Software
Reshare offers the only patented (US# 6,594,641 and foreign countries)
software that enables vendor suppliers to:
- Gain access to
valuable customer information and feedback
- Sell direct to
end users and share revenues with retailers and other intermediaries
- Maintain existing
relationships between retailers and end users
- Enable end users
to locate and select an appropriate retailer
- Credibly demonstrate
fairness and reciprocity to retailers
- Reduce Order processing
costs, across all channel partners, in aggregate of up to 72%
- Increase order
size as the result of ease of use and access
- Provide 24/7 ordering
availability
- Increased order
accuracy
- Decrease inventory
needs, creating decreased insurance costs, inventory loss, damage, etc.
The
Future Growth of the Internet
In 2005, worldwide online spending is expected to reach $6.8 trillion
for business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions. Nearly
half of this amount is expected to be within the United States. U.S. retail
sales online are expected to grow at an average rate of 15% per year,
between 2004 and 2010, from $141 Billion to $331 Billion, when the web
will account for 13% of all retail sales, according to Forrester Research.
How much of this growing market and change in end users purchasing patterns
and behavior, do you want to enjoy? What could be the impact and results
of positioning your company and customers to enter into this dynamic and
expanding online marketplace more fully than either are currently experiencing?
Industry,
Internet & Channel Experience
The founders and management team of Lighting Gateway, Inc. consists of
leading experts in the lighting, furniture, distribution and software
industries, with specific experience germane to the undertakings of the
Company. With over 20 years of online experience across a multitude of
industries, we offer software and strategies, which resolve channel conflict,
guarantee complete brand control and enhance relationships between all
channel partners and end users.
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