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Packaging Horizons Three Women—Three Takes on the Reality of E-Commerce Some say E-commerce has a long way to go. These women see the power and the potential in their own businesses. • An Association Director — JoAnn R. Hines, Executive Director, Women in Packaging • A Service Administrator — Beth Earle, Packaging Business • A Business Owner — Wendy LaGrant, President/Co-founder of NeedaBox.com, inc. With the rapid pace of today’s business environment resulting from the use of the Internet, Packaging Horizons Magazine determined it was necessary to delve into the reality of e-commerce. Women in Packaging’s (WMPKG) Founding Executive Director JoAnn R. Hines and Beth Earle, Packaging Business, the association’s web site creator and host, explored the interpretation of Internet use and e-commerce. The perspectives of a business utilizing e-commerce (WMPKG), a business manager (JoAnn), a service administrator (Beth), a web site host (Packaging Business), a customer (WMPKG) and a partner (Packaging Business) jell to create a win-win alliance. What is your definition of e-commerce? JoAnn: E-commerce is the ability to conduct business with the use of the Internet. It includes all online activities. Beth: E-commerce encompasses any of a variety of online activities that result in or support the sale of goods and services. What are the benefits of e-commerce? JoAnn: E-commerce is a business tool that allows me to be much more productive, efficient and responsive to our constituency. It gives the association a means to operate and communicate with all of its membership without mass printing, mailing, etc. E-commerce benefits customer focus and customer satisfaction. Beth: The largest benefit of a well-executed e-commerce project is the creation of efficiencies, allowing transactions to be completed more quickly and cost-effectively. If the e-commerce site is well developed, other important side benefits include increased levels of customer service and customer satisfaction for those companies that use e-commerce to serve their own clients, as well as a closer, more comfortable relationship with suppliers for those companies who use e-commerce to buy from their vendors. What are the downsides of e-commerce? What are some of the problems that need to be fixed in order for e-commerce to take off? JoAnn: This venue for business is still in its infancy. It has not matured yet, so not all businesses understand how it works. For instance, WMPKG receives multitudes of empty e-mails. We also get e-mails from people who respond without repeating the question, and those who fail to note what they are responding to. This prevents us from responding in an efficient manner. We get thousands of attachments a week, and we simply cannot download all the attachments for review. The learning curve will be very steep on e-commerce. We get numerous messages from visitors who are unable to navigate the web site or to fill out the forms. As a society, I think we are still missing a general understanding of the power of the Internet. WMPKG still has many members who are not connected. This has to change, or they will be left behind. Another detriment to Internet use is the amount of SPAM we receive. Because of the magnitude of our presence on the Internet, we are highly visible. We must be on every e-mail list (a great proportion unsolicited) known to the mind of man. Beth: The major downside is a lack of understanding — on a variety of levels — of how e-commerce works, what its true value is, what it can and can’t do, what the real risks are, and what a huge investment it requires. The investment comes in a number of areas: through commitment from the top down to e-commerce initiatives; through early-stage feedback from those on the front lines (salespeople, customer service people, order takers, even customers) on what they see as necessary to make the system work; through the devotion of large amounts of time to planning, executing and marketing the e-commerce initiative; and — not surprisingly — often through the expenditure of decent amounts of cash. The best solution to these problems is constant, consistent education (both formal and, more often, informal), provided by those of us already heavily involved in e-commerce for those who still haven’t been converted. How has e-commerce affected you professionally and personally? JoAnn: Internet use and e-commerce have affected the association tremendously. They gave WMPKG a vehicle to grow globally, expand our membership benefits, and fine-tune our outreach to packaging professionals around the world. Personally, the Internet made me a global player in the packaging world. My expertise is now reaching different parts of the world and allowing me to address issues overseas from my desk in Georgia. Beth: E-commerce has affected my professional life in a very direct and personal way. Before joining Packaging Business, I had never ordered anything online. Now, purchasing goods and services online is a routine part of my job and one that makes my work much easier. E-commerce also has presented a number of challenges, as several of our clients’ sites include an e-commerce component. Even though we have great expertise in this area, I’m still kept on my toes by the constant need to educate our clients on what they can expect from e-commerce and on what they have to put into the process to make it work. Lastly, e-commerce has played an increasingly important role in the business strategies of Polysort LLC, my employer and the parent of Packaging Business. In 2000, we acquired Polymersite.com, an online exchange for buying and selling plastics resins. We’ve also created group purchasing opportunities, allowing small- to medium-size companies to buy plastics resin, leveraging their volume as a group for better pricing. Where do you see e-commerce going as a way of doing business? JoAnn: E-commerce and Internet use will become our primary way of doing business in the future. We are practically there now! We are expanding our benefits virtually to continue to provide value to our members. Watch for WMPKG to grow into an association that conducts training and education programs, sells our resources, tools, and books on our web site. Our association with Packaging Business will allow us to do that on the Internet. Keep in mind that the creation of these programs is costly. It isn’t as simple as putting a new form on the site. Everything is intertwined so we have to take baby steps to get there. The reality of membership-focused e-commerce is an investment of money and time. Beth: E-commerce will only continue to grow as a way of doing business, but our experience has been that it likely will never be a completely sterile automated process. People need human interaction, largely to increase their comfort level with e-commerce, and we’ve been able to provide that by offering our members personalized services. We develop relationships with our members and then help them find the resins they need at a good price, usually via Polymersite.com and our online group purchasing opportunities. What is the best approach to customer service on the Internet? JoAnn: We have a mission to act in the interest of our membership. Our approach to e-commerce is simplicity for members, retention of members and acquisition of new members. We respond to visitors’ needs as quickly as possible with a personal touch. Unfortunately, sometimes we just can’t do that. Case in point, someone asks to be removed from the e-mail list. If they are not crossed referenced in our master database, we have a devil of a time finding them. We have more than 40 e-mail lists (about 20,000 e-mail addresses) that we manage. It often takes a flurry of e-mail to resolve it. That aside, I am confident it is possible to serve members well on the Internet. Beth: Whatever approach your clients and prospects want. Honestly, a lot of companies seem to throw things up on their web sites without researching the needs of their potential audience. Are your clients/prospects still relatively Internet-averse? Then, you should probably make sure your phone number and fax number are prominently displayed, allowing them to reach you in a more traditional fashion. Actually, a good web site should cover all the communication bases, providing the company’s mailing address, fax and phone numbers and at least one online contact form, allowing site visitors a simple, easy opportunity to submit questions or concerns. More on the cutting edge, one of our clients subscribes to an interactive service that allows him to monitor visitors to his site and to post a dialog box on any visitor’s browser, inviting that person into a real-time conversation with him. This is a time-intensive approach, but it works for him. Does the World Wide Web allow you to take your business everywhere with you? JoAnn: It does from the standpoint of staying in touch while traveling. I’m not to the point where I’m glued to the screen when I’m on the road, but I am able to get to correspondence and make more educated decisions while away from the office. Our programs are changing in such a way that it will ultimately become necessary to take the association with us everywhere. Beth: It ALLOWS me to take my business wherever I want. As a mom of three busy kids, the web allows me to feel more comfortable taking time out of my regular work day to spend with my family. The web allows me access to projects and clients, no matter when or where I want to work. For me, it’s a tool of liberation. I can spend important time with my family and still provide strong customer service for Polysort’s clients. Has your company changed the way you do business because of the Internet? JoAnn: Absolutely. Our primary method of communication is via the Internet. WMPKG simply has too much developing to do otherwise. I encourage everyone to contact us via e-mail. In fact, at times we can’t accept phone calls on projects like a call for a speaker because of the massive response. We can manage it if the responses are electronic. With the assistance of Packaging Business, we built our site to change the way we do business. The site’s content helps our members and potential members make informed decisions. It gives them quick clicks to programs and events. It is easy-to-use-site navigation and will soon have options to purchase developmental tools online and off-line. Providing these components to our members who are using the Internet greatly impacted our business strategy. Beth: Our basic business strategy is completely Internet-focused, so yes, it does change the way we do business. As the Internet grows and changes, Polysort transforms itself, too, to continue to provide the best promotion and e-business services available online. Has your web site crashed or shut down due to server difficulties? JoAnn: We have had very little difficulty with our current server. (Packaging Business is our third server and the best we have had.) The service is excellent. Packaging Business notifies us if there will be outages. Although, there is always that puzzle when things disappear off our web site. Ah, the mysteries of the Internet. Beth: No. Polysort maintains its own servers, for our own web sites and those of our clients. Our service record is remarkably strong. The worst thing that’s happened is a freak storm that once shut power down in our business park, but we fired up back-up generators quickly and got things working again. Do you have a success story to tell about using the Internet? JoAnn: Yes. I think the answers to all of these questions speak to that. The Internet has provided us with a wealth of information to help us build a stronger membership organization and a powerful tool for the packaging industry. Packaging Career Hotline (PCH) is an excellent example of our strength and success. It began as a publication six years ago. Now, the paper version takes a back seat to the online version. Ads can be available to potential candidates within minutes of placement. The economics of using PCH are staggering. For $200, an ad remains available for eight weeks to more than 10,000 packaging professionals. You do the math. Beth: We have loads of success stories. Since the beginning of the year, Polysort has helped its members buy or sell more than 2.5 million pounds of resins via our group purchasing and Polymersite.com efforts. Our clients are succeeding, too. The Association of Rotational Molders just this year transformed its monthly snail-mailed list of business leads into a biweekly online service that not only affords better, more convenient and more current access for its members but also dramatically reduced its costs of producing and maintaining the list. And then there’s the Women in Packaging’s web site. With average monthly traffic of 6,996 visitors, womeninpackaging.org offers the highly popular online Packaging Career Hotline, as well as up-to-date news on chapters, individual members and their employers. WMPKG’s web site is an outstanding example of the diverse and useful services that can be provided via the web. Beth Earle can be reached by e-mail at bearle@polysort.com, phone (330) 665-5918 or web site www.packagingbusiness.com. JoAnn Hines can be reached by e-mail at wpstaff@womeninpackaging.org, phone (770) 924-3563 or web site www.womeninpackaging.org. Selections from an E-commerce Diary by Wendy LeGrant E-commerce is many things to many people. From the server, to the business utilizing the Net, to the consumer making the transaction, each person expects something different from the same resource. With the onslaught on dot-coms came a whole host of new business issues and customer requirements. A true picture of the demands of an Internet start-up is given by Wendy LaGrant, president/co-founder of NeedaBox.com, inc., in the diary she has been keeping to track her company’s progression. • July 31, 1999 — The idea of NeedaBox.com, inc. is conceived. Domain name is registered. • October 1, 1999 — The mission of NeedaBox is to provide an online source of stock boxes, packaging and shipping supplies to small business customers. We are going to change the world with our idea!! The goal this quarter is to get a business plan done so we can shop it to angels and venture capitalists. Money is running free for dot-coms. • February 5, 2000 — We discovered today that we are not going to change the world, and money isn’t running so freely. We have enough money of our own to “bootstrap” our beginning. • June 1, 2000 — Research, research, research. What is e-commerce and what is our mission? Our mission is to act in the interest of the customer at all times. As stock packaging is one of the last things on the customer’s mind, the goal of e-commerce is simplicity for the customer and retention of those customers for our business. • July 1, 2000 — Research, research, research. The stock packaging wholesale distributor industry is blossoming on the Net. But they are not customer focused. All they have done is pasted their catalog onto the web without any thought of the customer’s experience. Content that helps a customer make informed decisions, real-time response capability, quick clicks to products and to purchase, options to purchase online and off-line, easy-to-use site navigation, special offers to returning customers, and something as simple as having our phone number on every page will go to serving customers well on the Internet. • August-September 2000 — More research for the past two months. How can we obtain the functionality we desire while keeping costs down? Off-the-shelf applications just don’t have the scalability to handle displaying a large selection of products with quantity pricing discounts, specific shopping cart functions, images with content, nor the ability to calculate shipping in real time. The reality of customer focused e-commerce requires a bigger investment than we realized, but it can be done. Research, research, research . • February 5, 2001 — The site is designed by us!! Today we passed our information off to the programmers. We should be ready for testing in eight weeks. • May 1, 2001 — We did not communicate clearly to our programmers. The site is sorting the products completely wrong. This is not customer focused. We need a face-to-face meeting. • June 22, 2001 — The site required modifications this past month, more customization, but we’re still within budget. We sent e-mails to associates to test the site. Learned that the site had not been fully tested by programmers. Due to customization and type of server on which we reside, the site crashed. Site administrator shut us down. Not a good day in e-commerce land. • July 16 & 17, 2001 — Many of the glitches worked out, now residing on our own server, still within budget, testing with a smaller group of associates. Dear Diary, Please keep your fingers crossed. The Internet has provided us with a wealth of information to help us build a business from scratch. At this writing, we are in the throes of testing our site, nitpicking every click and link. Asking the question, does it serve the customer? That we go live long before this issue is in print will be the first major success story of NeedaBox.com, inc. Wendy LaGrant can be reached by e-mail at wlagrant@needabox.com, phone (866) 329-2200 or web site www.needabox.com. RETURN TO PACKAGING HORIZONS EDITORIAL HIGHLIGHTS PAGE