Ecommerce in Elevator Industry Seems such an obvious Step for all the Manufacturers making it very easy for them to carry out the sales for the New Lifts, Maintenance and the Modernization of the lifts.
Ecommerce is the way to Sell for Many products, especially consumer Goods. However, it does not seem too far for the Industrial and Heavy machinery to be Sold Using Ecommerce. Already cars are being sold online. Lots of Heavy Machinery construction of Infrastructure is Sold online.
When Coming to ecommerce, the elevator Manufacturers are taking things slowly with many companies having stated to take the bookings online. Still you will have to go through and talk to various Staff to get you a Final Quotation for the Product. This is Still far away from an Ecommerce Point of View considering that it is just a booking and the sale is not completed using the online website.
Is Ecommerce for Elevators Possible?
Considering the Standardization in the products of all the major Elevator Manufacturers and the possibility of in-depth integration of the ERP Systems should make it possible for the Elevator manufacturers to Smoothly carry out sales and execution, at least of the Standard Products like Passenger elevators, using Ecommerce.
Blue Star Elevators have built an Ecommerce Website www.liftigo.com for the Elevators. They plan to make it a full online web driven Elevator Company which will use integration of Various Technologies for a smooth experience for the Client. The Platform will be used to carry out the Process right from Sale to Execution as well for maintenance, Modernization and eventually replacement of the Elevator thereby using technology for the full life cycle of the product.
Liftigo is doing only Passenger Elevators only at this point and the Custom Elevators and other requirements are processed like a standard enquiry and the Quotations are made manually and sent to the Client.
Will The Clients Prefer Ecommerce for Purchase of an Elevator?
Does human involvement not Necessary when purchasing an asset of this Size? Will the client be willing to Purchase a product without discussing it with a sales person who visits the site to look at the Product. This interaction of understanding and then promptly selecting the right product for the client is surely the right way to go forward. But from that stage the Sales can be carried out using Ecommerce.
Human involvement may not required for the sales of the equipment, especially, if the Brand has been established in the market as a supplier and installer of Quality Elevators. In this case it is hardly question of convincing the client to purchase the product and more about ensuring that the product meets the specification and the requirements of the client.
What happens after the Sale is Complete?
Execution of the Lift sale Generally has three Parts to it considering the supply, the installation and the maintenance of the Elevator.
For the Supply of the Elevator all the data about the Lift Shaft is available and can be got online asking for the clients or their engineers to Fill out the Forms and upload various drawings to the System. On receipt the Designing can be done and handed over to client for approval. On receipt of approval, the manufacturing can start. All this can happen without actually even seeing the client or the site.
The nature of installation of Elevator requires coordination between the Owner and the Installation Company. And hence the Site Engineer or Supervisor may be required to discuss the requirements with the client regarding the various works so as to smoothly move forward towards the completion of the project. However, all the data of the works to be done by the client is more of less standard can be maintained in the database and can be requested from client. Also, The Product can be designed and manufactured for reduced work requirement from thereby reducing the coordination required.
Maintenance Sales can be done using Ecommerce if the lift is installed by the same company and has continuous maintenance as the company has all the history related to that particular Elevator in its database thereby giving them complete detail about the current condition of the Elevator and thereby predicting the maintenance requirements. Hence the Price for the Maintenance can be decided by a computer based on all the data available and considering various other factors.
Conclusion
Ecommerce is very much possible in the Elevator Industry and will definitely provide the clients with much needed transparency in the pricing of the various products and services.
Technology will have to be built ground up or integrated deeply into the existing systems to provide the necessary data and also understand the existing data to provide the best results for the manufacturers as well as their clients.